Inset, left to right: Iris Rivera-Santos and Edgar Ismalej-Gomez (Stamford Police Dept.). Background: Cummings Park in Connecticut where the couple's toddler was buried in a shallow grave (Google Maps).
A mother and father in Connecticut will spend more than a decade in prison for their roles in the death of their 2-year-old son, whose body was discovered buried in a shallow grave at a local park nearly three years ago.
Iris Rivera-Santos and Edgar Ismalej-Gomez on Tuesday both formally pleaded guilty to all of the charges they faced in the slaying of young Liam Rivera, court records show. The charges for each included counts of intentional cruelty to a child, risk of injury to a child, tampering with physical evidence, conspiracy, and moving a dead body without a permit.
In exchange for pleading to their crimes, a Fairfield County Superior Court judge accepted plea deals requiring the mother and father each serve 16 years in a state correctional facility, the Stamford Advocate reported.
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Notably, neither parent admitted to killing Liam, although the medical examiner who conducted the boy's autopsy determined that his cause of death was "multiple blunt force traumas to the head."
Despite his plea, Ismalej-Gomez's defense attorney, Dominick Angotta, said his client continues to maintain his innocence.
"Edgar adamantly maintains that he had nothing to do with the child's death," the attorney told New York-based cable news station News 12 after the plea hearing. "Obviously, he made some horrible choices and for that, he has today accepted full responsibility."
Rivera-Santos and her attorney reportedly declined to comment following Tuesday's hearing.
As Law&Crime previously reported, police found Liam wrapped in plastic bags and buried in Cummings Park on Jan. 2, 2023. The park is about 40 miles northeast of Manhattan. Ismalej-Gomez was arrested within 24 hours and his wife was taken into custody about a month later.
Police said the investigation began with a call about Liam being kidnapped, but investigators soon "received information" that led them to Cummings Park.
"Officers responded and the preliminary information was that [Liam] may have been buried in an area of Cummings Park," Stamford Police Chief Timothy Shaw said in a previous statement. "Officers located a possible area with fresh dirt moved around and unearthed a plastic bag where the two year old was inside."
Rivera-Santos initially claimed she was held hostage by Ismalej-Gomez after their son's death.
The mother told investigators that after she found Liam dead in her room, Ismalej-Gomez held her at gunpoint for several days and made her go with him to and from West Virginia. She claimed she eventually escaped, bought a phone, and called her attorney. However, investigators said text messages that Rivera-Santos deleted from her phone showed that the mother's story about being kidnapped had been fabricated.
Ismalej-Gomez and Rivera-Santos are currently scheduled to appear in court again for their formal sentencing hearing Feb. 10, 2026, records show.
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