Nathalie Belizaire charged with 4 neglect counts after Bahamas cruise

A North Miami Beach woman is facing four counts of child neglect after police said she left her four children, including a 2-month-old infant and a 2-year-old, alone in her apartment while she took a three-day Carnival cruise to the Bahamas. Nathalie Belizaire, 29, was taken into custody Sept. 28 as she disembarked the Carnival Conquest at PortMiami.

Officers found the children on Saturday, Sept. 26, the night after the ship left port, hiding together in a bathroom of the apartment, according to North Miami Beach police. The father of the youngest child had called 911 after stopping by the home and hearing the children inside. Belizaire's attorney denied the allegations at a bond hearing the following Tuesday.

A WhatsApp post and a 911 call

The case began with a social media post, according to the arrest report. Lether Bazile, the father of Belizaire's 2-month-old daughter, told police that on Sept. 24 he saw a post on her WhatsApp story "depicting what appeared to be a cruise ticket purchase." He spoke with Belizaire that same day, and she told him she would be dropping the children off with their great-grandmother.

Bazile went to the apartment on Saturday night. He saw the television on through the blinds and heard the children talking inside, the report states, and he called 911.

North Miami Beach police and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue were dispatched after that call and forced entry into the residence because of concern for the children's welfare. There, "all four minor children were discovered inside ... without adult supervision and were hiding together in the bathroom," police said. No adult was in the apartment when officers went in, and the youngest child, a girl, was 2 months old.

Body camera video captured the moment officers discovered the children, who appeared shaken, WKMG reported. The footage showed a 2-year-old toddler and two older siblings, one holding the newborn, coming out of hiding in the bathroom, according to Fox News. One image from the scene shows the toddler coming to the bathroom door as officers arrive. Officers gathered the four children and led them outside.

The children's great-grandmother told authorities that Belizaire had said "she would be dropping the children off because she was going out of town," but that she never brought them over. Belizaire's brother, Steven Borgella, told police his sister texted him around 8 p.m. Saturday, instructing him to check on her children, according to the arrest report. That was the same night officers forced their way into the apartment. Police said their multiple attempts to contact Belizaire were unsuccessful.

Taken into custody at PortMiami

Investigators determined that Belizaire had purchased a three-day ticket to the Bahamas aboard the Carnival Conquest with a sail date of Sept. 25. The arrest report says she "left all four minor children, including a 2-month-old infant and a 2-year-old child, inside the residence without adult supervision while the defendant traveled out of town aboard a Carnival Conquest cruise ship."

North Miami Beach police and a Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office detective went to the Port of Miami on Monday, Sept. 28, as the ship returned from the Bahamas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers took Belizaire into custody as she disembarked and then turned her over to North Miami Beach police. She declined to provide a statement and invoked her right to remain silent, authorities said.

The report describes what officers concluded after collecting accounts from Bazile, the children's great-grandmother and Belizaire's brother, and after confirming the cruise booking. It was the basis for the probable cause finding behind the four charges.

Based on the totality of the circumstances and evidence obtained during the investigation, sufficient probable cause existed to establish that the defendant failed to provide the necessary care and supervision for the four minor children, thereby exposing them to a substantial risk of harm.

Belizaire faces four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, one count for each child. Fox News described them as four felony counts. The children range from the 2-month-old girl, born in July, to a 9-year-old, according to local reporting.

The Carnival Conquest left PortMiami on Friday, Sept. 25, on a weekend sailing to the Bahamas and returned Sept. 28. Police had concluded by then that Belizaire had traveled out of town aboard the ship, and officers from the North Miami Beach Police Department were waiting at the terminal when it docked.

Judge spars with defense at hearing

Belizaire appeared Sept. 29 in Miami-Dade bond court before Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer, who rebuked her over the allegations. "You cannot make this up. It says she went on a cruise and left her children home alone," Glazer said during the hearing.

Her public defender told the court it was "only an allegation" and that Belizaire denies it. "Of course she does," Glazer replied, before noting that Belizaire had been arrested as she disembarked from the cruise ship.

The exchange turned to who bore responsibility for the children. The attorney asked who was responsible for them at the time. Glazer answered that it is usually the mother, "the person that gave birth to them." The attorney pushed back, saying mothers are not the only people in charge of children and that fathers, grandparents and others also carry responsibility.

Glazer said mothers always know who their children are, and that fathers may not, adding that it appeared there were different fathers in this case and that one of them had grown concerned and called police. She also returned to the age of the youngest child. "One baby, the baby was born in July of this year. Who leaves a baby alone like that?" she said.

Released on $10,000 bond

Glazer set bond at $10,000. Fox News reported that the amount worked out to $2,500 for each child, and that the judge ordered Belizaire to stay away from the children until the Department of Children and Families can investigate. Belizaire was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami. She paid the bond and was released Tuesday night.

These poor kids, four of them, were home alone for three days ... I'm just grateful nothing worse happened to these kids.

The stay-away order bars Belizaire from contacting the children directly or indirectly, in person, in writing, by phone or through third parties, WKMG reported. She must also remain at least 500 feet away from them at all times, including at their home and their school.

Authorities said the four children are safe and in foster care. The order holds while the Department of Children and Families looks at the case, which means Belizaire cannot see the children at the apartment where officers found them or at their school.

Belizaire bowed her head during Tuesday's hearing and used her orange jail attire to wipe away a tear, Fox News reported. She has not entered a plea herself. A written plea of not guilty was filed on her behalf by her public defender in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.

Belizaire has been charged before in Miami-Dade. Fox News reported, citing the New York Post, that she faced an aggravated battery charge in January 2025 after allegedly pepper-spraying a neighbor in the face during a dispute over her daughter.

Timeline and current status

Belizaire is free on bond and barred from contact with her four children while the case proceeds in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. She faces four counts of child neglect without great bodily harm. No conviction has been entered, and her defense has denied the allegations.

• Sept. 24: Infant's father sees a cruise ticket post on Belizaire's WhatsApp story.
• Sept. 25: The Carnival Conquest sails from PortMiami for the Bahamas.
• Sept. 26: Police force entry and find four children hiding in a bathroom.
• Sept. 28: Belizaire is taken into custody as she disembarks at PortMiami.
• Sept. 29: Judge sets $10,000 bond; she is released that night.

Bazile's 911 call brought officers to the apartment on Saturday night. His account of the WhatsApp post and of what Belizaire told him about the great-grandmother runs through the arrest report. In court, Glazer referred to one of the fathers growing concerned and calling police. The case remains pending in Miami-Dade Circuit Court.