Flavaine Carvalho was not scheduled to work a shift at the restaurant Mrs. Potato on New Year’s Day, but someone called saying she was sick, so she filled it out, said her boss Rafaela Cabede during a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
It had been very busy the rest of the day since it was a holiday, but things finally slowed down and that family was the last table of the night, she said.
“We really believed that this was a sacred provision and we were very blessed to have helped this child,” explained Cabede.
“Because of her, two children … were saved,” Orlando Chief of Police Orlando Rolon told a news conference. “We would probably be talking about a possible homicide investigation if she hadn’t intervened when she did.”
Carvalho said the boy was wearing a mask and sweatshirt while sitting at the table with two adults and a girl.
Although he could not see much, Carvalho said that he noticed that he had a scratch in the middle of his eyebrows and that he was not asking for anything and was not eating, although the food had been brought to the table.
‘You don’t deny a child food’
Carvalho said he thought it strange that the child did not eat and be quiet while the others talked and played.
She asked the table if their food and drinks were OK. When one of the adults replied that the boy was going to have dinner at home, Carvalho said he started to think that something else was going on.
“A child is not denied food, especially in a restaurant,” said Carvalho.
She then saw a bruise on the side of the boy’s face and arm and decided to see what she could do to help him.
“I just thought I needed to do something,” explained Carvalho. “I couldn’t see him leaving without help.”
Caravalho wrote a note asking the boy if he was okay and stayed behind his parents where they couldn’t see.
The boy nodded. “I knew – that he is scared or does not feel comfortable saying he needs help,” said Carvalho.
So she decided to write another note.
This one said, “Do you need help?” Carvalho said the boy nodded and “made a motion with his hands showing that he didn’t know what to do”.
Carvalho called her boss and then called 911.
On a call to 911, Carvalho tells dispatchers that she is worried about the boy.
“One of the children has a lot of bruises on his arms and face and his father is not giving him food, but the other children who are with them,” she said in a recording sent to CNN by the Orlando Police Department. “I’m really worried and I don’t know what to do. Can you give me some advice?”
Boy details abuse allegations
Police arrived and questioned the child, who told detectives that he had been abused at the hands of his stepfather, identified by the police as Timothy Lee Wilson II, Detective Erin Lawler of the Orlando Police Special Victims Unit said during the press conference.
The boy told detectives that he had been hit by a wooden broom, hung upside down on a door and regularly did not receive food as a punishment, according to a press release from the Orlando Police Department.
Wilson was arrested at the restaurant, and the boy’s mother, Kristen Swann, was arrested on January 6 after the boy made further disclosures of alleged abuse, Lawler said.
The stepfather is accused of several counts of aggravated child abuse and neglect, court records show.
A press release from the Orlando Police Department said Swann admitted to detectives that he knew about the abuse and did not seek medical attention for his son. She is charged with two counts of child neglect, court records show.
A 4-year-old child was removed from the home after his parents’ arrest and was not considered a victim of abuse, according to Lawler.
‘It shocks your soul’
Lawler said the boy is Swann’s son and the 4-year-old is Swann and Wilson’s son.
After Carvalho called 911, the boy was taken to a hospital because of his injuries, where he was found to be 10 pounds underweight for his age, according to Lawler.
Bruises all over the boy’s body at various stages of healing were also observed, Lawler said.
“What this child went through was torture,” said Lawler with tears in his eyes. “I am a mother and seeing what that 11 year old girl had to go through … It shocks her soul.”
“If Mrs. Carvalho hadn’t said something when she saw it, that boy probably wouldn’t be with us much longer,” he added.
Lawler said the boy told investigators that he had been abused on Christmas Day when his parents said Santa Claus suggested that he be punished. The punishment included him being handcuffed to a furniture doll, Lawler said, with his hands behind his back with racket straps around his ankles and was made to break free. He was also hung upside down from his ankles on a door with ratchet handles, Lawler said.
The detective said his parents said they would punish him by forcing him to make boards for 30 minutes and beating him when he couldn’t.
Wilson and Swann were arrested in Orange County prison.
CNN sought out a lawyer for Wilson, but has yet to receive a response. CNN was unable to determine whether Swann has legal representation.
Court records show that Wilson attended a first hearing on January 6 on four counts, which include three counts of aggravated child abuse and one charge of child negligence.
The two remain at Orange County Jail, Heidi Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Orlando Police Department, told CNN by email on Thursday.