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Baby Lollipops
On November 2, 1990, Florida Power & Light (FPL) employees discovered a small boy between a driveway and a cherry hedge while working in an upscale Miami neighborhood. The boy, lying in a pile of grass and leaves, was in a diaper and a t-shirt.
He was not alive.
Signs of suffering covered his little body. The boy appeared starved and badly beaten. His dirty diaper was held to his body with brown packing tape and the waste had solidified.
The medical examiner reported extensive trauma including a fractured skull, broken bones, bedsores, broken teeth, and a cigarette burn on his left cheek.
His left arm had been broken and left untreated. It didn't heal which caused the nerves to die and his little muscles calcified into bone. The examiner estimated 18 months' worth of abuse and torture.
For weeks, his identity went unknown and the Miami Beach Police Department used his shirt with lollipops across the front to name him.
"Baby Lollipops" was three years old and weighed a scant eighteen pounds.
After weeks of searching, investigators finally located the toddler's mother, Ana María Cardona. "Baby Lollipops" had a name. It was Lázaro Figueroa.
Two Women, Two Stories
Authorities found Lázaro's mom living in St. Cloud, Florida, with her partner, Olivia González, and two other children.
During interrogation, González stated that Cardona had killed her son Lázaro. She admitted to helping to dump his body under the bushes. Both women were charged with aggravated child abuse and first-degree murder.
Cardona denied responsibility, however, and would spend decades trying to clear her name. The couple started a war of "she said, she said."
The two women do agree on their history together.
Cardona and González met at a Miami Beach nightclub in March of 1989. González was instantly drawn to Cardona - an attractive and confident woman. Cardona partied hard with alcohol and cocaine.
The attraction became a relationship. Cardona had divorced; her luxurious lifestyle dwindled. With her money spent, and her cars gone, Cardona was evicted from her high-end apartment.
Left with few options, she moved in with González and brought three of her four children. Lázaro was her baby at 18 months old. Cardona stayed home during the day with her little one while her two other kids went to school and González went to work.
Cardona's Story
Cardona maintains that she was strung out, especially in the last few months of her son's life, and that her lover, Olivia González, is the one who tortured and killed Cardona's baby. She said she had no control over the situation which was up to González and a babysitter named Gloria.
Cardona insisted she did not inflict significant abuse on her son. She had initially stated that Lázaro fell off the bed, striking his head. She would later recant that statement.
Cardona blamed González for killing her son by hitting him with a baseball bat.
González's Story
Olivia González recounted a history of abusive behaviors Cardona used on her son. She spoke of horrific incidents when Cardona gave Lázaro cocaine, sprayed him with insecticides to watch him convulse, and locked him in the closet or bathroom.
The couple moved frequently, and González stated that at each motel, trailer, or friend's house, it was the same. When Lázaro disobeyed or cried, Cardona would beat him, choke him, and withhold food.
Packing tape was used to keep his diaper on for days to limit changing him and to hold in the waste.
González never spoke up out of fear. Cardona had allegedly stabbed her in the hand during a prior fight.
Final Word?
Both women faced serious charges.
Olivia González was offered a deal by prosecutors. If she pled guilty to aggravated child abuse and second-degree murder and testified against Cardona, she would receive a sentence of 40 years in prison.
She took the deal and was the prosecution’s star witness.
Olivia González was sentenced to prison for 40 years, served 17 of them, and was released in 2008.
Ana María Cardona was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. She maintained her innocence.
There would be retrials. One retrial in 2010 followed 22 years on Death Row. Cardona was again convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse -- for the third time.
Cardona's death sentence, however, was overturned.
She remains serving life in prison at the Women's Reception Center in Ocala.
No one may ever know the truth behind Lázaro Figueroa's death. One thing is certain; he had a horrific life.
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