vactruth.com
His Innocent Father Is Still In Jail 20 Years Later
In 1995, Bryant Arroyo was incarcerated for the murder of his stepson
Jordan and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Since that
fateful day, Bryant has continued to proclaim his innocence and has
spent the past twenty years trying to find out the truth behind his
stepson’s death.
In a letter to me, Bryant wrote:
“I am aware that you are not only a
former wrongfully accused parent, but an advocate who has utilized her
experience to become a journalist to expose this broken system to assist
those parents who are sitting dejectedly, in a cell, in some remote
part of the entrails of this beast — without a face, or voice, stripped
to their naked existence, unrecognizable to the world …”
I am using this opportunity to give back Bryant Arroyo his voice
after he was silenced by the US justice system at the time of his trial.
The Day Jordan Died
The story begins on Saturday, September 25, 1994. Bryant’s partner,
Pamela, picked Bryant up from work around 10 pm. When they arrived home,
Bryant went into the house to relieve the babysitter, while his
girlfriend went out with her mother and some friends. After working a
long shift, Bryant felt very tired and fell asleep on the sofa with his
stepson, Kyle.
Around 1 pm, his girlfriend arrived home and asked Bryant to check on
Baby Jordan. At this point, it dawned on Bryant that he had not checked
on the baby and he went to check. Bryant explained to VacTruth what
happened next:
“I went upstairs to check on him and
was stunned to find him ‘blue’ and unconscious. I rushed downstairs and
yelled to Pamela to call 911 while I attempted to revive him using CPR. I
didn’t have any formal training, but I gave it my best effort, as any
parent would, given the unforeseen circumstances …
The police officers arrived a short
time later. Officer Wettlaufer took over for me and removed baby Jordan
from a chair where I had him and placed him onto the floor. He continued
to administer CPR until paramedics arrived. Baby Jordan was then
transported to Lancaster General Hospital. All efforts to revive him
were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead at around 3:40 pm.”