BREAKING: The mother of Alajendro Ripley - the 9-year-old autistic boy found dead earlier today - has emerged as the primary suspect in her son’s death and has admitted to being involved, a senior law enforcement source tells @CBSMiami 1/

The mother also admitted to making up the story that two black men had abducted her child, the law enforcement source told @CBSMiami.

Her claim that two black men snatched her child set off a statewide search for the boy before his body was found in a lake in South Dade.

The mother is cooperating with detectives, according to the source, but has not yet been formally arrested.

It is still not clear why or how the child was killed, although detectives reportedly found witnesses who saw the mother with the boy by the lake. @CBSMiami

The story’s racial element is undeniable, reminiscent of Susan Smith in 1994 in South Carolina

In today’s case, the mother described two unknown black men desperate for drugs abducting her son. She conjured a picture complete with one of the men having corn rows. @CBSMiami

A senior law enforcement source told me the mother began to cooperate after being confronted with evidence her story wasn’t real.
A witness may have actually seen her by the water with Alajendro before he died.