Va. Teen's Drowning Bewilders Mother

Police See No Sign Of Error by Trooper

Just a few months ago, Gloria Elena Rodriguez's family suffered a string of disasters: It lost the lease on its Woodbridge apartment; her sister-in-law died; and her only son, Rodger, was arrested after riding in a stolen car with another teenager.

Yesterday, Rodger was dead, having drowned in the Occoquan River early Saturday after what police say was an attempt to escape an arrest for speeding.

"The blows have just come one after another," said Rodriguez, sobbing, as she sat with her husband in the suburban split-level home they share with two other Honduran families in Woodbridge.

Police said yesterday that they were still investigating the bizarre death of the 16-year-old, who plunged 62 feet into the river after fleeing from a locked cruiser in handcuffs.

Sgt. Terry Licklider, a spokesman for Virginia State Police, said there was "no indication" of improper action by the trooper who left Rodriguez alone in his cruiser when he went to investigate the vehicle the teenager had been driving on Interstate 95.

Rodriguez and her family have a cascade of questions.

How did the teenager escape? Why would he have jumped? Most important, how could this happen to a young man who longed for a bright future in America?

Just 15 months ago, he arrived from Honduras, joyfully reuniting with the mother he hadn't seen since 2002. "Imagine what that was like!" Rodriguez said.

"And now -- dead."

Underpinning her tragedy is a phenomenon familiar to many Central American immigrants. After years of work, they manage to reunite with their children, only to find they have developed an independence that eludes parental control.

Rodriguez moved to Northern Virginia in 2002 after losing her job in the customs office in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Her second husband, Gilton Acosta, had arrived in the United States a year earlier and was working construction.

"I thought I'd work for a while and go back. Because my children are there," Rodriguez recalled.