Analiz Osceola Pleads Not Guilty to Aggravated Manslaughter; Bail Reduction Request Denied

Analiz Osceola pleaded not guilty to aggravated-manslaughter charges in Broward Circuit court Wednesday morning. Osceola was charged after her 3-year-old stepson, Ahziya, was found dead wrapped in garbage bags and stuffed in a box inside her home in March. 

Additionally, Osceola's request to have her bond reduced from $230,000 to $25,000 was rejected by Broward Circuit Judge Michael Robinson, according to the Sun Sentinel. Oceola's lawyer argued that she is not a flight risk because she is a high-risk pregnant woman with a history of miscarriages and stillbirths. Osceola is eight to ten weeks pregnant.

According to police, Osceola continually contradicted herself during interviews with investigators and knew Ahziya was injured and needed medical attention. When his body was found hidden behind a laundry machine, police say Ahziya was covered in bruises. 

An autopsy revealed that the boy had died from "blunt impact abdominal trauma causing a transacted pancreas and a lacerated liver" and that he had been suffering from an untreated broken leg for weeks before he died. 

"Based on the medical examiner's report," the arrest warrant issued for Analiz said, "the child suffered catastrophic internal injuries that would have caused him to be in extreme pain but would not cause him to die immediately." 

For a full day before the boy's body was discovered, Hollywood Police dispatched search parties and a chopper to search for him after Osceola had reported him missing. 

But he was eventually found in the Osceola home. According to police, Osceola stuffed Ahizya's body into two trash bags, one to cover his legs and the other his head, and then placed the body in a box that she put behind a washer in the laundry room. She didn't report Ahizya missing for hours after that. When she did report him missing, she mentioned that her wallet and keys were also gone, prompting police to believe it may have been an abduction. 

Osceola eventually told investigators she heard the boy making grunting sounds at 4 a.m. the night before he was reported missing. She claimed that when she touched him, Ahziya was “slightly cold to the touch but still warm."

Osceola also told investigators she attempted CPR and tried to give Ahziya Pedialyte. But she told them that she thought that was a bad idea and tried to induce vomiting by stuffing her fingers down his throat. She again tried CPR but didn't get a pulse. She then left him, and when the boy's father, Nelson Osceola, came home, she didn't say anything about Ahizya. Nor did she tell her mother, who was asleep in another room the entire time.

Osceola was arrested on aggravated manslaughter and child neglect charges. She was also charged with breaking "Caylee's Law" for allegedly providing police with false information. The child-neglect charge was eventually dropped since it's already included in the manslaughter charge.

Nelson, age 24, has been charged with one count of child neglect. He too has pleaded not guilty. 

Osceola has no prior arrests, while Nelson and Ahziya's biological mother, Karen Cypress, have a history of prior arrests, including possession of cocaine, organized fraud, criminal mischief, and battery.