OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – An father was sentenced to life in prison plus 35 years for his role in the beating death of his son in 2022, according to court records.
Larry Rhodes was arrested after deputies responded to a Knights Inn in Kissimmee after reports came in about a drowning, with call notes indicating someone’s head was in a toilet.
Rhode’s girlfriend, Bianca Blaise 911, and told them her son was trying to drink water from the toilet and drowned.
Upon arrival, investigators said they found eight people in the hotel room, including Rhodes, Blaise and six children ranging from 6 years old to a baby less than 1-year-old.
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A charging affidavit shows the child’s head was in the toilet and he did not have a pulse and was not breathing, so CPR was administered and the child was taken to a hospital with a life-threatening brain bleed.
The child later died at the hospital. Investigators determined the boy died from injuries sustained from child abuse and found evidence other children in the hotel room suffered from physical abuse and neglect.
At a news briefing at the time, Sheriff Marcos Lopez described the incident as “one of the worst child abuse cases in the history of Osceola County any of us up here have ever seen.”
Rhodes and Blaise were arrested on child neglect charges in 2022 but in December 2024, Rhodes was indicted on first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated child abuse and four counts of child abuse in his son’s death and the abuse of his other children, according to a news release from the state attorney’s office.
Rhodes was sentenced to life in prison for the murder charge with an additional 35 years added for the child abuse charges.
Rhodes’ girlfriend, Bianca Blaise, who was also arrested in connection with the death of the 6-year-old and the abuse of five others is still in custody and faces charges.