Mourners seek answers to boy's death

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Throughout Thursday and well into the evening people gathered in Alvarado Park each with their own reasons for visiting the site where a mother is accused of suffocating and burying her 3-year-old son.

For many it simply is the nagging question of why?

"Obviously having a young one, it's hard for me to fathom," Elizabeth Clapp told KRQE News 13. "That's why I just walked down here now, to just, kind of gather my thoughts and think about it and try to understand how it happened."

The park in northeast Albuquerque has played host to vigils and a makeshift memorial since the boy's body was discovered nearly a week ago.

But the gathering Thursday night was different. Now people know the unidentified boy they called Baby Angel is Ty Toribio and that his mother, Tiffany Toribio, is in jail charged with his murder.

Tonight, more than other nights, it's real. The police composite picture has a name.

"I feel disgusted," Briana Quiroz said. "It's wrong. It's awful.

"My daughter is 3 as well. And just knowing that a little boy 3 years old, innocent as he is. I don't know how anybody could do that, especially a mother."

The mix of grief and disbelief have been present in Alvarado Park all day with people feeling the need to stop by, many with their own children...

Others feel even closer to the tragedy especially neighbors who claimed to have seen Ty in the past and his mother even since Ty's death.

"At the memorial, she's been here," Theresa Gaffney said. "But we never see her cry. She's there. She talks to everybody."

However the woman believed to be Tiffany Toribio didn't seem distraught or upset, she added.

Some people said they have reached some point of closure and feel justice can now be served.

"It does help," Kathy Wray said. "Now we have a name to the face. We know that he belonged to somebody.

"Now we just have to wait and see what the outcome could be."

Organizers are planning another vigil Friday night, and on Saturday they plan to have an all-day barbecue where there will be free fingerprinting for kids.

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe plans to hold a public praying of the rosary at 8 p.m. Saturday at the park.