After an 8-year-old boy with autism eloped from his elementary school classroom and was later found dead in a nearby creek, his widowed mother alleged the school's "negligence caused his death."
Lionel Ramirez Cervantes escaped from Bells Crossing Elementary School in Simpsonville, South Carolina Thursday morning, according to the Greenville County Sheriff's Office.
Following a massive, hours-long search effort, a dive team located Lionel's remains in a body of water near the school.
"I know he is now in a better place, and with his dad. But my boy did not have to loose [sic] his life this way. Negligence caused his death," Lionel's mother, Dalia Cervantes, wrote on Facebook shortly after his body was retrieved.
"Now I am left without my Leo. I do want to Thank everybody who has taken their time to send me and my kids condolences and support. I saw the video and it does not justify their actions," Cervantes explained of surveillance footage showing the boy flee.
According to the school, Leo was in class with two other students and three staff members when he bolted, The Post and Courier reported.
It's unclear if the school will face any charges in connection with his death.
"Yesterday it was just me and him, not knowing it would have been the last time I would be with him. He told me he loved me," Cervantes wrote in a separate post on Facebook. "I will seek justice for my boy. This should not have happened. He was autistic, but verbal and smart like all autistic kids. He is now resting with his dad, who died 3 years ago. I miss my boy, he was not supposed to die this way."
According to a GoFundMe launched to help offset funeral expenses, Cervantes was widowed three years ago and has since raised the couple's five children on her own.
The campaign has so far raised nearly $70,000 – more than twice its initial goal.
