Left inset: Patricia Ripley. (WPLG/YouTube). Right inset: Alejandro Ripley (Miami-Dade Police Department). Background: Video footage allegedly shows Florida mom Patricia Ripley pushing her 9-year-old son Alejandro Ripley into a Miami canal (WPLG/Univision/YouTube).
A Florida woman shoved her 9-year-old son into a Miami canal and tried to tell cops that he "loved the water and had fallen in," according to prosecutors. She later confessed after police obtained video footage that allegedly showed her "pushing" him and running away.
Lawyers for Patricia Ripley, 51, are trying to get her confession tossed out — claiming she was coerced into giving it using a "Christian burial technique." Her attorneys describe this as a tactic where police manipulate someone into giving a confession through the "exploitation of beliefs" and "forgiveness."
"The Supreme Court of Florida has noted that the use of the 'Christian burial technique' by law enforcement personnel 'is unquestionably a blatantly coercive and deceptive ploy,'" Ripley's legal team says in a supplemental motion to suppress her statements, which was discussed at a hearing Tuesday in Miami-Dade County Court.
According to court filings obtained by Law&Crime, Ripley's lawyers claim police detectives used "a combination of screaming, pulling up close to her (on top of her), pushing her hand away after pulling up on her, using religious epithets" along with "Christian burial speech" to obtain a confession from her for the 2020 murder of her son, Alejandro, in southwest Miami-Dade.
Prosecutors said in court Tuesday that Ripley — who is charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, child abuse causing great bodily harm and other crimes — told detectives her son "was in a better place" after she drowned him, local independent TV station WPLG reports.
"The defendant gave a story that the victim just loved the water and had fallen in," Assistant State Attorney Abbe Rifkin recounted.
It was a Thursday evening, May 21, 2020, when Ripley was allegedly caught on surveillance video "pushing the victim into the canal," according to an arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime. Bystanders saw Alejandro, who was autistic and nonverbal, "floating in the canal" and pulled him out, per the affidavit.
Officers with the Miami-Dade Police Department were dispatched to the area after receiving a report from Ripley of an armed kidnapping and armed robbery involving her son, according to the affidavit.
"Upon the uniform units' arrival, they made contact with the defendant who advised that as she was driving … an unknown make and model vehicle sideswiped her vehicle, causing her to crash," the affidavit alleges. "She stated that the driver got out of the car, armed himself with a knife, and approached the driver-side door of the defendant's vehicle. The driver then demanded drugs from the defendant. Upon the defendant not providing the drugs, the male then opened the front driver-side door and took the victim's cellphone and tablet. She stated this male then removed her 9-year-old child and fled in an unknown direction."
Police launched a missing person search, during which Ripley provided "conflicting statements," according to cops.
"These statements … contradicted the statements of witnesses and the video footage obtained from the area," the affidavit states.
Ripley's lawyers say that she was taken into custody and interrogated for hours.
"Using both verbal and physical intimidation, the detectives double-teamed the distraught and exhausted Ms. Ripley, demanding that she 'stop bulls—ing,'" according to the supplemental motion to suppress her confession.
"[The detectives] decided to further exploit Ms. Ripley's Christian beliefs," the filing says, alleging that one of the detectives asked Ripley if she believed in Jesus Christ, whether she was a Christian, whether she attended church.
"He advised her that she had better pray because he did not believe what she was saying," the motion states. "[The other detective] reminds Ms. Ripley that she is a Christian who believes in God, and questions what she thinks God is saying right now that she is holding back such terrible things and remonstrates that the only thing left for her to bring God back is repentance."
Ripley's attorneys claim that at one point, a detective said to her, "God is a forgiving God, okay? I'm a Christian myself. … God is a forgiving God, you know. And when you have, when you come with a humble heart, God will forgive you. All right? It doesn't matter how bad the sin is. He will forgive you. Okay? And you know that. You know, we all know that. Okay? But you have to come with a humble heart to him asking for forgiveness."
The judge overseeing Ripley's case said Tuesday that she will issue a written ruling on the motion to suppress Ripley's statements by June 23. A trial date is set for January 2027.
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