RIP: Alejandra Vasquez

Here from the NY Times:

Alejandra Vasquez, the 11-year-old beaten to death, allegedly by her
mother with a mop handle, came to Brooklyn from Mexico about a month
ago but was hidden — never enrolled in school, and unseen by
child-welfare officials who visited her family’s apartment, even as she
suffered repeated abuse, medical records and interviews showed.

Alejandra
was unknown to the authorities until her body was discovered on Sunday
morning, but her story in some ways echoes that of her older sister,
Imelda, 14, who has been in foster care since January.

Imelda
also came from Mexico after years away from her mother and did not
regularly attend school here, records show; she told child-welfare
officials that her mother frequently beat her with toys and a belt,
and, in May, asked never to see her again.

The medical examiner
ruled Alejandra’s death a homicide by blunt force trauma, and found
evidence in an autopsy of ongoing beatings. “There were recent
blunt-impact injuries to the head, torso and extremities” that were “in
various stages of healing,” said a spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove.