Mother arrested in connection with the death of 2-year-old boy in Stamford

STAMFORD, CT (WFSB) - The mother of a 2-year-old boy whose body was found buried in a park in Stamford was arrested in connection with the boy’s death.

Iris Rivera-Santos, 29, was arrested on charges of risk of injury to a minor, hindering prosecution, tampering with evidence, and cruelty to persons.

Rivera-Santos’s son, Liam Rivera, was found buried in Cummings Park on Jan. 2.

Stamford police said they received a report from a family member that the boy had been kidnapped and harmed. The information led them to the park, where they unearthed a plastic bag that had the boy inside.

On Feb. 3 around 9:45 a.m., Stamford major crime investigators said they arrested Rivera-Santos as the result of an extensive investigation that was conducted over the previous weeks in conjunction with the Stamford State’s Attorney’s Office.

Rivera-Santos was held on a $1 million bond.

The father of the victim, 26-year-old Edgar Ismalej-Gomez, was already in the custody of the Connecticut Department of Corrections from a previous arrest for violation of probation. He was called a person of interest in the case and was arrested as he tried to get into a taxi to flee the state, police said.

Stamford police called the case a priority for them.