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A Florida mother faces four criminal charges after allegedly abandoning her four young children — including a 2-month-old baby — to take a three-day vacation on a cruise ship in the Bahamas.
Nathalie Belizaire, 29, was charged with four counts of child neglect after she boarded Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Conquest, leaving her children unsupervised at her North Miami Beach residence. Police said U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested her Monday as she disembarked.
“You can’t make this up,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer said in footage from Tuesday’s courtroom. “We’re just grateful that nothing worse happened to these kids.
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Nathalie Bélizaire, 29, bows her head after using her orange prison outfit to wipe away a tear during an arraignment Tuesday. (WSVN)
“Who leaves four little kids alone to go on a cruise?
“The poor children were alone at home.”
The children were discovered by police on Saturday, the day after the ship left. Bodycam footage showed four children coming out of hiding in a bathroom – a 2-year-old toddler, a preteen and what appeared to be a teenage girl holding a newborn.
Lether Bazile, the 2-month-old’s father, told police that Bélizaire claimed she was leaving the children with their great-grandmother, the New York Post reported.
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A toddler shows up at a bathroom door after North Miami Beach police were called to an apartment to find four children allegedly abandoned by their mother, who had gone on a three-day weekend cruise to the Bahamas. (WSVN)
The father was alerted to the mother’s absence by Belizaire’s WhatsApp story two days earlier that appeared to show a Carnival Cruise Line ticket, he told police.
When Bazile stopped at Bélizaire’s house, he saw the television shining through the blinds and heard the voices of the children inside.
He immediately called the police, who entered the house and found the four children hiding in a bathroom without an adult present.
According to authorities, the children’s grandmother, Denise Wilkes, told police that Bélizaire promised to drop the children off but never showed up. Additionally, Belizaire’s brother, Steven Borgella, informed police that his sister had texted him at 8 p.m. ET the day the children were found, asking him to check on them.
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The footage showed a 2-year-old, a preteen and a teen carrying a newborn leaving an apartment in North Miami Beach after allegedly being abandoned by their mother for a three-day cruise weekend. (WSVN)
Belizaire was arrested Monday as she disembarked from the ship at the Port of Miami. She refused to speak to officers.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Bélizaire’s defense attorney argued that her abandoning the children to go on vacation was “just an allegation at the moment,” noting that she denies the claims.
“Right now it’s just an allegation; she denies the allegation,” the defense attorney said.
“Of course she does,” Glazer said as the defendant appeared exasperated.
“They arrested her when she got off the cruise ship!” the judge then replied.
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“I understand that, judge, I understand that,” the lawyer replied. “The question is, who was responsible for the children at the time?”
Glazer thought for a second before saying, “Usually it’s the mother, the person who gave birth to them.”
“There are also other people responsible, it’s not just the mothers,” replied the defense lawyer. “It’s not just mothers who take care of children, judge. There are also fathers, grandparents and other people.”
“You see, mothers always know who their children are,” Glazer said. “The fathers may not know this, but it seems there are different fathers here. One of the fathers became concerned and called the police.”
Bélizaire was given a stay-away order until the Department of Children and Families can investigate. She faces four counts of child neglect without serious bodily injury. Bail was set at $10,000, or $2,500 per child.
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This recent arrest is not Bélizaire’s first run-in with the law. She previously faced aggravated battery charges in January 2025 after allegedly spraying a neighbor’s face during an argument over her daughter, the Post reported.
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