He may even take the stand and say again what he has always repeated, that he did what any parent would do. Now Kristie had been at the apartment, whereas before she hadnt. I could mail out 50 letters and not one of them would [get a response] back, said Elizabeth, who scoured medical and legal textbooks in the prison library and spent nearly all of her commissary money on stamps. Comment * at what temperature do stink bugs die. At left is Rose Vasquez, Anna's sister-in-law, taking pictures. She said that her father Javier had coached her to make the accusations. San Antonio police arrested Zion J. Limon, 20, in connection with the shootings. Sept. 5, 2012. More than a decade later, in 2011, Cassie was transferred to the Hobby Unit in Marlin, where Anna and Elizabeth had been living. Detective Matjeka was a homicide detective covering for detective T.R. She served 12 and a half years. A San Antonio, Texas judge is considering what he will recommend to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after hearing testimony that four women convicted of sexually abusing two young girls in 1994 should be exonerated. Stephanie Limon Martinez, center, was just 7 when she and her older sister said the women sexually assaulted them. One of the girls ran in and told her that the other had been playing with dolls in an inappropriate way, undressing them and making them kiss. Their reinvestigation wasnt fruitful. Morales stands accused of allegedly orchestrating the August 2014 murder of Javier Limon, who the prosecution claims was killed over unpaid drug debts to gang members. When Elizabeth had entered the courtroom, the girl who was accusing her of sexual abuse had waved at her and smiled. Though Annas family was more accepting than the others, she still remembers gawking looks whenever she and Cassie would stroll together at carnivals. Elizabeth Ramirez (clockwise from top left), Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez -- the San Antonio Four -- are all out on bond or parole, but face new trials. Casie Gotro, Stephanie's lawyer, is at left. Cassie saw Elizabeth for the first time at a Catholic mass. San Antonio El Berrendo San Ricardo Santa Luca San Roberto Palo Blanco El Capricho Las Minitas El Guerreo El Porvenir Jess Ortiz El RecuerdoEl GuerreoEl Guerreo As a teenager Otto had hitchhiked across the continent, but by 25 he was tired and wanted mental discipline. He found criminals particularly fascinating, especially the psychologically obscure, because, like him, they were on the fringes of society. Every Sunday, she would write her son a letter and have her mother deliver it. Limon was the boyfriend of Ramirez's sister at the time. Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. He liked to party and her workaholic lifestyle drove them apart, but not before she became pregnant with his son. By the time of the trials, she told me, good pediatricians knew this stuff had been discredited.. The stories came after pressure from Javier Limon, Ramirez's former brother in law and the father of the two girls. You got lucky! Were all friends. Ive kind of prepared myself for the feelings he might have, that I abandoned him., Several weeks later, the night she was released, she met him for dinner at Pizza Hut. Cassie, who worked at AutoZone and frequented car shows, thought about becoming a mechanic. She was 22. Limon was overbearing and lectured her constantly. Matjeka told Elizabeth that if she had committed a crime, her sondue in about five monthswould probably be taken by the authorities. She was given permission to be there by her parole officer until they realized the property backed up to a school property line. The prosecutor, Mary Kay Delevan, reminded the jury that much time had passedthe alleged abuse was three and a half years earlierso the victims may not be able to keep everything perfectly straight.. I was there every step of the way with my kids, he said. Her sister Elizabeth would call him and ask for rides because she didnt have a car, and shed borrow small amounts of cash. On Saturday evening, officers were called to the apartment. All four of the women were out as lesbians, a fact that colored the investigation into the accusations and case against them. He went back inside as everyone exhaled. They realized that the four of them had rarely been in the apartment at the same time, because they were so busy with long shifts at various jobs at odd hoursyet the girls were claiming that all four women were present for the assault. The language was chatty and upbeat. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. He knew her name was Elizabeth Ramirez, and that she was an inmate in a Texas prison, 3,700 miles from his cabin in Canadas frigid Yukon Territory. A wiry, bearded man appears on camera and tells them the building was torn down. A version of this story ran in the January 2014 issue. 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He did not testify Monday but is expected to this week. Its just so unusual and bizarre.. Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce Business Spotlights, Shipping companies reach $97M California oil spill agreement, Lompoc boys fall to Cypress Oxford Academy in first round of soccer regional, Dear Abby: Wife has no appreciation for man's preferred dress, Intel agencies: No sign adversaries behind 'Havana syndrome', Questions remain over who allowed Javier Limon to be killed as former Northwest gang member wraps up testimony. Yeah, theyre all gay and were friends, but that doesnt mean its a gay relationship. No olvides preguntar por sus ofertas, descuentos y especiales del momento. But Elizabeth soon found problems there as well. 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. Limon was her sister's ex-boyfriend, and the two daughters were her 7- and 9-year-old nieces. Prison was a place of endless routine, and so she started one of her own. 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The girls father, Javier Limon, who had dated her sister Rosemary before a messy breakup, had been making advances toward her, she said. Otto found an organization called the National Center for Reason and Justice, which was created in the wake of the 1980s-era satanic ritual abuse scandals to advocate for people wrongfully accused of harming children. 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. Nathan brought the case to the Innocence Project of Texas, where well-known attorney Jeff Blackburn agreed to represent the women. One night Elizabeth stole some of her mothers prescription anxiety pills and overdosed. Elizabeths lawyer, Freddy Ruiz, tried to get VL to say that she was mixed up, and that the gun had actually been wielded by her father Javier in Colorado. Fueled by the "Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic" of the day, baffling charges by one of the women's nieces send them all to prison. It doesnt mean were all intimate together, had any kind of sexual togetherness., The trial lasted only a couple of days. No, nothing like that happened, Limon Martinez replied. The crowd cheered. Yes. Javier Limon, now in his 40s, keeps his graying hair short. Mondo spent more than a year on the story, reporting much of it in her spare time. Thank you for reading! All of the Texas Observers articles are available for free syndication for news sources under the following conditions: You can chip in for as little as 99 cents a month. The arresting officers would not even let me kiss him goodbye.. Eventually the two would move in together, and Anna would treat Cassies two kids as her own. In other ways, though, her life was starting to look up. Ramirez has testified that the. Cassie and Anna are looking for Elizabeths old apartment. A statue of a praying angel stands near Maria Vasquez, right, in her living room where Vasquez prayed daily for her daughter Anna Vasquez. At screenings of Deborah Esquenazis documentary footage, she wooed supporters. Detective Matjeka had little or no experience interviewing children who making complaints of sexual . I thought she should have gotten life, said Gentry, the foreman. Every other day, she told me, shed clean the office of her sisters prosecutor, Philip Kazen. Elizabeth knew that being a lesbian would make her an outsider in her conservative Catholic family. Hooper described Javiers behavior as a pattern, saying he uses the authorities to get back at people who have crossed him. She wanted a relationship with me. He went on to have another bitter custody battle with his next partner, Carina Hooper, who described him to me as hurtful, mean, a sociopath, and said he accused her son of sexually abusing their daughter, and reported Hooper for neglect to Child Protective Services. Elizabeth Ramirez, right, and Cassandra Rivera are both in the Hobby Unit in Marlin, Texas. And the letters? I never heard anything back.. HOUSTON A young woman who recently recanted a nearly 20-year-old accusation of sexual assault, which had sent her aunt and three other women to prison, was in a courtroom here Monday fighting child-abuse allegations leveled at her. Then one day while he was at work, his mother, Serafina Limon, was cooking while the girls played outside. She testified under oath at the trial that Javier had arrived in Denver and threatened her with a gun. He had no idea who she was. 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. She would do the same thing if somebody was hurting her child., Elizabeth herself, several months earlier, had said nearly the same words. Otto was initially skeptical; he asked her the same questions in letter after letter, to see if her answers remained consistent. That incident was said to have happened during a visit Aug. 1 to the home of Javier Limon, Stephanie Limon Martinez's father, in Stafford, according to court testimony. Matjeka typed her answers into a computer. Other 7 month ago 0 answers 12 views. They were all arrested and convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child. This makes us one of the biggest by prevailing local standards. Even as a toddler, Elizabeth Ramirez was small for her age. I trusted Elizabeth, that she wasnt going to hurt my daughters, he said. When Javier got home, the girls told him the whole shocking story of being held down and raped, he said. Anna Vasquez talks with mother Maria Vasquez, center, and friend Denise Tristan, left, as they celebrate Thanksgiving with family members at her mother's house, her first after being released on parole, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. You know why? The former girlfriend of a defendant being tried for planning the slaying of a Santa Maria drug dealer testified Thursday that Joseph Morales never admitted his involvement in the crime during phone calls that she secretly recorded under police orders after she agreed to cooperate with law enforcement. Morales stands accused of allegedly orchestrating the August 2014 murder of Javier Limon, who the prosecution claims was killed over unpaid drug debts to gang members. There was seldom evidence other than the statements of children or adults who recovered memories from their youth. So she decided to tell her lawyer about Javier. 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