Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 12:35 pm, Owner of San Antonio bar Moses Rose's launches GoFundMe to cover court costs as talks stall, San Antonio gourmet hot dog spot The Dogfather quietly opens second location. As prison guards at the Crain Unit in Gatesville close the gate behind her, Anna Vasquez opens the door to a relative's car after being released on parole Nov. 2, 2012. Detectives gave her a recording device and ordered her to call Morales in prison, record the conversation, then hand it over. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. She testified that she called Stafford police because she didn't want an argument between her father and her husband getting out of hand. Waiting to solve 5. They took the girls to Walmart, where they bought a fish. After she turned 16, Elizabeth began to stay out later, experiment with drugs, date boys and fight with her mother, Gloria. VLs new testimony muddled the facts she had presented a year before. Matjeka typed her answers into a computer. On Valentines Day 1998, a Saturday morning, all three were convicted of the same crimes as Elizabeth: aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. Stephanie Limon Martinez (center) breaks down in a state district court in Houston during questioning at a hearing concerning custody of her children. We met once at the colleges library, and then later at a Whataburger, where he takes his kids so often that he knows the staff well. About a month after he sent Elizabeth a letter, Otto came home from work to find her response in the mail. About a month before, they had spent a week at her apartment. Please notify us by email that the article will be republished at, I Confronted the Man Whose Crime Put Me in Prison, Observer Radio Episode 50: Greg Abbott Had a Rough Week, Border Security Is a Financial Black Hole that Will Consume Us All. He stormed away. Lopez, who normally handled child sexual abuse cases. When Elizabeth had entered the courtroom, the girl who was accusing her of sexual abuse had waved at her and smiled. Limon was overbearing and lectured her constantly. When Ramirez rebuffed him, her family claimed, Limon retaliated by coaching his daughters to accuse her of molestation, and the girls ended up accusing Ramirez's three friends as well. Elizabeth had just learned of her pregnancy and was recovering from a car accident. But because only copies of the documents are available, the experts reports were inconclusive. Javier claimed they were forged by Rosemary as a pretext for taking the kids from him. Vasquez's story could have happened to anyone, just as it did to her 19-year-old self, fresh out of high school. The case caught the attention of just almost every eyeball out there. Recently he had been sending her love letters. Her long straight hair was in a perm with her bangs teased up off her forehead. She spoke confidently, her voice cracking a little when she talked about Kristie, Cassie and Anna, and her son. Articles must link back to the original article and contain the following attribution at the top of the story: This article was originally published by the, Articles cannot be rewritten, edited or changed beyond alignments with house style books. She had examined VL and her sister and seen a scar on the hymen that was about two to three millimeters, a scar normally caused by penetration. VLs mood, Kellogg said, was guileless or uncontrived, that is she did not appear to be holding back information or embellishing or adding information., Elizabeth took the stand in her own defense. Elizabeths friends say she could have done more to reject Javiers advances. It was like living in a labor camp, he said. Shifts at Arbys. Did you threaten him with pepper spray? the lawyer asked. A statue of a praying angel stands near Maria Vasquez, right, in her living room where Vasquez prayed daily for her daughter Anna Vasquez. A friend had brought 10 outfits on hangers, including black slacks and blouses in various shades of blue and gold, so the women could pick what theyd like to wear.. In terms of mileage from the Yukon, the North Pole would have been a shorter journey. Ramirez was tried separately and sentenced to 37 and a half years, more than double that of her three friends, who were tried together. Ramirez theorized at the time that Javier Limon, her sister Rosemary's ex-boyfriend and her nieces' father was upset with her because she rejected his many romantic overtures after he went through a bad breakup with her sister, the Texas Observer reported. She was so trusting, so lovable. Elizabeths sister Monica said, If Liz was a different person she would have had him arrested or placed a restraining order.. Testimony concluded on a Friday afternoon. His questions grew more personal. She looked stoic and resigned. Everything she does is camouflaged, he said, adding that she probably made a deal with Rosemary, her mother, for money or other help. We rely on the generosity of our readers who believe that this work is important. Elizabeth was stunned. "They were involved in the opposition movement against the military regime. Otto teaches courses on natural resources at Yukon College. During that conversation, which was played to the jury, Alejandre could be heard asking Morales who killed Limon. They looked like celebrities inundated by paparazzi. Cassie and Anna tried to meticulously recreate what had happened the week of the alleged crimes. They would barbecue at the park on weekends and take trips to a nearby lake. Javier Limon makes his way to the 315th District Court in Houston to for a hearing concerning his daughter, Stephanie Limon Martinez's custody of her children. Had she been in lesbian relationships? The sheriffs spokesman came out and explained that the jail still needed a form from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. In 1994, four local women in San Antonio were accused of sexually assaulting two children. Javier says that Oscar stabbed him in the back by dating Rosemary, and that due to a stint in prison, Oscar was an excellent forger. She started to cry. Kristie, still unemployed, pawned a radio. . When he denied that the letters existed, she took them out and pointed to his signature. They found Elizabeth guilty in just a few hours, but their debate about punishment lasted into the evening. Thank you for reading! No. Deborah Esquenazi sat in the front seat and held a camera as Stephanie read. Javier did not testify, but told me unequivocally, There was no gun.), Sometimes truth is different, Ruiz told the jury. The women held her down and started kissing her and putting cold liquid stuff inside her, and then they inserted a tampon into her vagina, she testified. Around the same time, Anna was put on maintenance duty and assigned to fix the lights in Cassies cell. Stephanie Limon Martinez (right), shown with lawyer Casie Gotro, is fighting child-abuse allegations she said are based on retaliation. The court battle this week pitted Stephanie Limon Martinez and her husband, Joseph Martinez, against her father, Javier Limon, who in court Friday accused them of domestic violence and. Of course she did. They used those letters in order to entrap me, he said. "I'm a single mom raising kids, living on the streets," she testified, becoming emotional on the stand. Javier Limon was given as the reason his two daughters made accusations of sexual abuse against four women in 1994 that led to them being sent to prison. Maria Vasquez (right), mother of Anna Vasquez, shakes hands with Gloria Herrera (left), mother of Elizabeth Ramirez, as Anna Vasquez's aunt, Valeria Pachecano stands in between during a meeting of the San Antonio Crime Coalition on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. She wanted a relationship with me. Limon Martinez took the stand for more than a hour Monday. September 5, 2012. Javier Limn (born 1973) is a record producer, singer and songwriter born and raised in Madrid, Spain.Limn has worked with several artists, mainly from Spain, since he incorporates elements of flamenco rhythm to his work. I called all the womens previous attorneys, and they didnt even remember the case, she told me. She would do the same thing if somebody was hurting her child., Elizabeth herself, several months earlier, had said nearly the same words. At left is Rose Vasquez, Anna's sister-in-law, taking pictures. He liked to party and her workaholic lifestyle drove them apart, but not before she became pregnant with his son. One night Elizabeth stole some of her mothers prescription anxiety pills and overdosed. Her brother, Chis Vasquez, right, is her unofficial guard, making sure she is OK as friends greet her. And the letters? Nathan contacted family members and others connected to the case, and Otto sought out reporters and published a short essay of his own on Texas Monthlys website. Im sad inside. There was seldom evidence other than the statements of children or adults who recovered memories from their youth. Limon Martinez said it was her father who was rough with her son then. His packet of information about the case ended up on the desk of Debbie Nathan, a journalist who wrote Satans Silence, the seminal book on the satanic scandals, and who regularly vets cases for the organization. When offered plea deals of 10 years probation, they all refused and decided to go to trial. All four were indicted for sexually assaulting Elizabeths nieces, and all four maintained their innocence while scrambling to remember if anything out of the ordinary had happened the week the girls stayed at Elizabeths apartment. He is expected to testify this week in a case in which one of his daughters is fighting allegations of child abuse. Kristie wanted to return to veterinarian school at Texas A&M if she could find the money. Vasquez along with three other women are fighting for exoneration from a 1994 sexual assualt case. So she left her sisters home and moved in with a girlfriend from school. Margaret Vasquez, Anna Vasquez's sister-in-law, holds up a loteria card, as the family plays the family favorite tradition, celebrating Thanksgiving with family members at Anna's mother's house, her first after being released on parole, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. With her are her lawyer, Casie Gotro, and her husband, Joseph Martinez. She never stopped sending him letters. Site made in collaboration with CMYK. Ramirez told the court that the accusations against her and her friends came after she spurned his advances for marriage. Roughly a year later, in late October 2013, attorney Mike Ware filed writs for all four women. We were friends; me, Cassie, and Anna. He let the letter sit on his desk for a week before he put it in the mail. The scene of the crime had vanished. That was the last time they spoke. here? At one point, the sound of wind and cars passing on the highway accompanies a shot of an empty lot. She, along with Kristie, had been in prison for 13 years. At one point, he had as many as 40 of them, and he would haul 5-gallon buckets from a nearby river for them to drink. I showed the letters and samples of Javiers handwriting to several forensic document examiners. The girl's father, Javier Limon, claims that shortly after bringing them back to San Antonio from Denver in 1992, they were caught acting out sexually with dolls, which led to their disclosing these events to him. Limon took his daughters to the Alamo Childrens Advocacy Centre where they underwent a . Alejandre countered that it was difficult to pick up calls while she was on the streets, couldn't pay her phone bill, and she reiterated that she only sold drugs to support her children. Alejandre is heard saying. Anna Vasquez hugs one of her older brothers, Robert Vasquez, as they embrace each other for the first time in 12 and a half years on Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. The stories came after pressure from Javier Limon, Ramirez's former brother in law and the father of the two girls. Elizabeth shrugged off her mothers warnings. Anna Vasquez, one of the four San Antonio women fighting to clear their names in the 1994 sexual assault of two sisters, was released from prison on parole, from the Crain Unit in Gatesville, TX. He had no idea who she was. It was really an offensive question.. Anna Vasquez, recently released on parole, listens to lawyer Jeff Blackburn, center, speak at a Work-In-Progress screening of "San Antonio Four" a documentary by Deborah S. Esquenazi, about Vasquez and three of her friends, who are still in prison, found guilty of sexual assault of two minors. He called me Mom, and I had a big old lump in my throat. The patriarch of the family, Limon was given as the reason the sisters made the accusations in 1994, according to Ramirez's testimony at her trial for sex abuse. She and her husband, Joseph Martinez (right), were in a Houston courtroom Dec. 3 fighting child-abuse allegations leveled at her by her father Javier Limon, who was given as the reason his two daughters made accusations of sexual abuse against four women in 1994 that led to them being sent to prison. . Anna Vasquez, just released from prison, stops at the "Anna Wall" in her mother's home, joking that the photo of her in a crib as a baby, was the first picture of her behind bars. Shortly after Mondos story appeared came the breakthrough. So she decided to tell her lawyer about Javier. Javier told me he testified in court on the matter, but that the police filed the CPS report, not him. Detective Matjeka was a homicide detective covering for detective T.R. Her son took a plea deal and is now a registered sex offender. Matjeka's tone grew less friendly. When Javier got home, the girls told him the whole shocking story of being held down and raped, he said. Alejandre later was promised by police that her charges would be dismissed if she agreed to cooperate with their investigation and also testify. She served 12 and a half years. More letters followed, each one taking about two weeks between his home and Elizabeths prison in Marlin. Kristie Mayhugh, seen here Sept. 4, 2012, is incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. Ware expects a battle over whether the women are declared actually innocent, a designation that would entitle them to compensation from the state for their imprisonment. Mama, theyre my nieces, she said. Shortly after his daughters stayed at Elizabeths apartment, Javier called her and said he had something important to tell her. Thank you for using this website. Years went by without a response. Javier told me that his daughter didnt recant because she suddenly changed her mind about what happened to her. If you support this mission, we need your help. Anna, Cassie, Kristie and Elizabeth emerged from the jail, holding hands in a line with Mike Ware, and raised their arms up. In early February 1997, Elizabeth sat at the defendants table as the judge stated the charges against her: aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. He would offer Elizabeth rides, he would give her small amounts of cash when she needed it, and he would leave long messages on her answering machine. Javier Limon, which happens to be the two girls' father and Elizabeth's brother-in-law at the time, is apparently the man responsible for all of this. Both will be thrust into the limelight in the upcoming legal battles over the case. He knew what was going to hurt me the most, she told me. During a cross-examination, Kazen, the prosecutor, broke the flow of his questions to ask, Am I intimidating you up here? Discovery channel documentary 'Southwest of Salem: the Story of the San Antonio Four' unravels the case against lesbians accused of abuse. Elizabeth was completely lost in the huddle. Im your grandmother, Cassie said to her daughters 2-year-old girl. They ask her to keep secrets and instruct her to call at specific times, between 7 and 7:15 a.m. or 5:45 and 6 p.m. I hope these letters are not upsetting, disturbing, or making you feel uncomfortable, one reads. When one reporter asked whom they blame, Kristie offered, I dont think we blame anybody. Ware jumped in and said the blame goes to a number of factors and people, and thats not something were going to get into.. Released on parole after serving 12 and a half years of a 15-year sentence, Anna Vasquez speaks at a screening of "San Antonio Four," a documentary by Deborah S. Esquenazi, on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012, while holding photos of her friends who are still in prison. 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