Anna, Cassie, Kristie and Elizabeth emerged from the jail, holding hands in a line with Mike Ware, and raised their arms up. By the time of VL and Stephanies outcries, these public dramas had largely died out, though Dr. Kellogg, in her exam notes, had written, this could be satanic-related. Nathan told me it was probably the last time anyone wrote in the record, This looks satanic., She checked Ottos background, since it seemed strange that he was so interested in the case. To be honest with you, she said, I feel so bad for my brother, because I tell him hes got the worst luck with women.. She wasnt receptive, Javier told me. He continued typing. Gay rights activists treated them like rock stars. He was an ex-boyfriend of Ramirez's sister who the family said had made romantic advances toward the much younger Ramirez. Deborah Esquenazi sat in the front seat and held a camera as Stephanie read. About a month before, they had spent a week at her apartment. She served 12 and a half years. I called all the womens previous attorneys, and they didnt even remember the case, she told me. By the time of the trials, she told me, good pediatricians knew this stuff had been discredited.. Michelle Mondo, a crime reporter at the San Antonio Express-News, read Ottos piece and began investigating. But because only copies of the documents are available, the experts reports were inconclusive. District Attorney Susan Reed agreed that the women could be released on bond pending further legal wrangling in the spring, and that she wouldnt attempt a retrial. Gentry was a minister, and though he had told the lawyers he believed homosexuality to be a sin, he also said this belief wouldnt cloud his judgment. An emotional Anna Vasquez pauses before answering questions about three of her friends who are still in prison. The new technology was fascinating, but so were social mores. Thank you for reading! He sometimes grows out a mustache thatalong with the tweed jackets he likes, the glasses perched on his head and the iPhone in his shirt pocketgives him the look of a harried college professor. The cameras blinked on. He was an ex-boyfriend of Ramirez's sister who the family said had made romantic advances toward the much younger Ramirez. They are signed Javier Limon.. Cassie and Anna tried to meticulously recreate what had happened the week of the alleged crimes. 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She says she didnt pay because he wouldnt let her see the kids. VL claimed that the court reporter must have incorrectly taken down her remarks at Elizabeths trial. They looked like celebrities inundated by paparazzi. No, nothing like that happened, Limon Martinez replied. During a cross-examination, Kazen, the prosecutor, broke the flow of his questions to ask, Am I intimidating you up here? I dont want to say I was disowned, but I was, Elizabeth told me. It turned my stomach, she said. That was the last time they spoke. Stephaniewho would not comment for this story on her lawyers advicesoon found herself in a legal battle of her own. Even as a toddler, Elizabeth Ramirez was small for her age. We were friends; me, Cassie, and Anna. Alejandre is heard saying. I always felt like an outsider, my whole life, he said. Shortly after Mondos story appeared came the breakthrough. Stephanie Limon Martinez, center, was just 7 when she and her older sister said the women sexually assaulted them. Of course she did. Rosemary got a job supervising the cleaning staff at the courthouse downtown. . He explained to Elizabeth that her nieces were accusing her and several of her friendswho had also been at the apartment that weekof sexually abusing them. She never stopped sending him letters. Cassandra, who goes by Cassie, was uncomfortable and could sense something was wrong. Surrounded by cameras from local and national media outlets, the women thanked the DAs office and the media for letting us tell our story. They also thanked Darrell Otto, over and over again, though none of the reporters asked about him. Limon Martinez said it was her father who was rough with her son then. I look at this as a giant jigsaw puzzle, said Mary Burdette, an investigator hired by the lawyers, and sometimes a piece is missing and its just gone., If this case returns to court, VL may be the focus of a high-stakes cross-examination over whether she told the truth as a child. 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. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. She had not spoken to him for 13 years, though family members had updated her on his growth, his football games and his girlfriends, and informed her that he was staying out of trouble. He is now 18, with a job and a girlfriend. He may even take the stand and say again what he has always repeated, that he did what any parent would do. You got lucky! A tearful Anna Vasquez speaks on a phone during a prison interview Sept. 4, 2012. 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. She denied the accusations of abuse about her and her husband and that she neglected her children. Six months before graduation, overwhelmed with her work schedule, she dropped out of high school. Elizabeth knew that being a lesbian would make her an outsider in her conservative Catholic family. He liked to party and her workaholic lifestyle drove them apart, but not before she became pregnant with his son. I tried writing the innocence projects and Oprah and Maury Povich and Montel, Anna told me, anybody who would listen. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Promotional Rates were found for your code. But money was tight, and at various times Elizabeth held jobs at Taco Cabana, Arbys and H-E-B. Both later described it as love at first sight. 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. Matjeka's tone grew less friendly. Mike Ware, left, is another lawyer working on the case. Anna Vasquez, recently released on parole, speaks 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 knew what was going to hurt me the most, she told me. Our whole relationship was based on him controlling me, she said. But Elizabeth soon found problems there as well. It involved four women from San Antonio. I trusted Elizabeth, that she wasnt going to hurt my daughters, he said. She had been convicted of a crime, but the crime didnt make much sense; he knew that women rarely go to prison for sexually abusing children. I think that first story was really complicated, she explained. When he denied that the letters existed, she took them out and pointed to his signature. The crowd cheered. She gave the San Antonio Express-News permission to use her name even though the paper's policy is to not name victims of sex assault, which she still is in the eyes of the law. In 2012, one of the nieces admitted to having been pressured by her father, Javier Limon, to make the false accusations. The lawyers had argued about it, and he expected to get cut from the jury pool, but now here he was sitting in the jury box. When I handed him copies of the letters, he leafed through them disinterestedly. He asked to film her walking around the yard, and she complied, but she wouldnt stick one foot past the curb for the camera to symbolize her freedom, since it would technically violate her parole conditions. The language was chatty and upbeat. Theres a home video from the period shortly before Kristie, Cassie and Anna went to prison in 2000. Morales maintained that he was minding his own business and focused on appealing his prior criminal case to get out of prison, and denied any involvement in the murder. I showed the letters and samples of Javiers handwriting to several forensic document examiners. Javier claimed they were forged by Rosemary as a pretext for taking the kids from him. She looked stoic and resigned. Around the same time, Anna was put on maintenance duty and assigned to fix the lights in Cassies cell. At the station, Matjeka asked if she knew a man named Javier Limon and his two daughters. Javiers sister Cristina agreed: Shes going to flip on the recantation, to get back at her mom.. 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. He introduced himself as Detective Thomas Matjeka from the San Antonio Police Department, and though he was not in uniform, he said he was with the Homicide Unit. Kristie Mayhugh, seen here Sept. 4, 2012, is incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. Her relationship with her mother improvedGloria co-signed for Elizabeths new apartment. On Saturday evening, officers were called to the apartment. I know youre very nervous, her lawyer said, according to the transcript. A video of Anna Vasquez plays on a computer and is projected to an audience at a meeting of the San Antonio Crime Coalition on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. Guards at the rural prison stared in surprise at his Canadian ID card. And the letters? Ramirez told the court that the accusations against her and her friends came after she spurned his advances for marriage. Her brother, Chis Vasquez, right, is her unofficial guard, making sure she is OK as friends greet her. Her father Javier called, and as VL assured him that everything at Aunt Lizs house was going just fine, her aunt held the gun to her head. She would do the same thing if somebody was hurting her child., Elizabeth herself, several months earlier, had said nearly the same words. One of them, Elizabeth Ramirez, had a profile on the website WriteAPrisoner.com. 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. Limon Martinez and her husband believe the accusations against them are in retaliation because she is now working to help exonerate her aunt and the other women. Rosemary, who had trouble fighting for custody since she lived outside of Texas, floated around, at one point moving to Mexico with a husband who had immigration issues. There aren't many places she is allowed to go. In her original statement to police, there had been no gun, but now there was one. This type of evidence would later be deemed inaccurate. Shifts at Arbys. Michelle Mondo published a story strongly implying that Javier filed the allegation as punishment for Stephanies recantation. The sheriffs spokesman came out and explained that the jail still needed a form from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. During that conversation, which was played to the jury, Alejandre could be heard asking Morales who killed Limon. Cameras flashed and clicked as the women were engulfed. Stephanie Limon Martinez (right), shown with lawyer Casie Gotro, is fighting child-abuse allegations she said are based on retaliation. Investigators say Richard Adam Hernandez shot and killed Rose Marie Limon on January 31 at her apartment on Pecan Valley Drive. Mama, theyre my nieces, she said. Elizabeth Ramirez holds her baby boy shortly after his birth in a family photo. I thought she should have gotten life, said Gentry, the foreman. Sept. 5, 2012. I did not want a relationship with her. I would not have one with her., Did you have a gay relationship with Anna?, Did you have a gay relationship with Cassie?, That doesnt mean you have to be together., Well, maybe Im confused. Thank you for using this website. It was really an offensive question.. Partners must notify. Elizabeth told me that after she became pregnant, Javier offered to marry her and was upset when she refused. 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. At the station, Matjeka asked if she knew a man named Javier Limon and his two daughters. Since the early 1980s, the United States had seen numerous accusations, investigations and trials of daycare workers and other adults for supposedly engaging in ritual satanic abuse, including the rape, murder and torture of children. The Firm presently has twelve members. Today, Vasquez works with the Texas Innocence Project to overturn other wrongful convictions. The questioning continued, focusing on Elizabeths relationships with women. Stephanie Limon, the younger of the two accusers, called Debbie Nathan and recanted. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. 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. It wasnt something easily picked up by the wires.. Limon has been charged with capital murder. Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading. In 1994, four local women in San Antonio were accused of sexually assaulting two children. 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