New Orleans police have confirmed that 12-year-old Bryan Vasquez, a nonverbal boy with autism who had been reported missing earlier in August, died from blunt force trauma caused by an alligator attack, followed by drowning. His body was discovered in a lagoon nearly 12 days after he disappeared. New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick described the death as a failure on the part of authorities. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the boy's disappearance and death remains ongoing.