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 explained that she threatened to recant to hurt him, because they had recently been fighting. 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. You have permission to edit this article. . The video cuts between scenes of them spinning Cassies kids on a small playground carousel and swimming at a beach. Cassie, who worked at AutoZone and frequented car shows, thought about becoming a mechanic. Javier says she went to Mexico to evade paying child support. Elizabeth Ramirez was four months pregnant when she heard a knock at the door. Otto was initially skeptical; he asked her the same questions in letter after letter, to see if her answers remained consistent. carvajal mazzini francisco javier dedicada a venta al por menor de alimentos, bebidas, principalmente y diversos articulos como: aparatos de uso domestico, articulos de ferreteria, muebles, prendas de vestir, cosmeticos, etc, en almacenes no especializados (supermercados, tiendas de abarro.inici sus actividades comerciales el 18/03/1997 como personas naturales. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. Elizabeth's brother-in-law, Javier Limon, father to the two accusers, had been pursuing Elizabeth romantically, and was angry that she rejected his advances. The judge hearing the case will determine whether the couple get their children back. They grew closer and, with Elizabeth beginning to realize she was attracted to women, eventually started dating. It was Nov. 18, and they had been waiting since that morning, having skipped lunch because the release seemed imminent. The new technology was fascinating, but so were social mores. Had he offered to marry her? was an incident when their father, Javier Limon . So she decided to tell her lawyer about Javier. About a month before, they had spent a week at her apartment. Aunt Liz produced a gun. Stephanie Limon Martinez (center) breaks down in a state district court in Houston during questioning at a hearing concerning custody of her children. We were inseparable, Cassie said. Anna Vasquez, left, sits next to long time friend Denise Tristan as the family prepares to play a game of loteria, a traditional Mexican game. Her brother, Chis Vasquez, right, is her unofficial guard, making sure she is OK as friends greet her. . He also gave up drinking, he told me, though he never liked the taste of alcohol anyway. What was next? Michelle Mondo, a crime reporter at the San Antonio Express-News, read Ottos piece and began investigating. She said that her father, Javier Limon, and her grandmother, Serafina Limon, hit the ceiling when they found out Ramirez and her friends had come out as lesbiana risky move in 1990s San Antonio. 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. During that conversation, which was played to the jury, Alejandre could be heard asking Morales who killed Limon. 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.. The story of the San Antonio Four unfolded like this: In the summer of 1994, Ramirez's two nieces, the 9- and 7-year-old daughters of her older sister, stayed for a week with Ramirez and. 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. 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.. Mr. Limon took his daughters to the Alamo Children's Advocacy Centre where they underwent a physical examination for evidence of . Kristie Mayhugh is at Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas. Alejandre further denied ever selling drugs for Morales or being asked to do so. We were sitting in a wide, sunny visiting room at the Hobby Unit. Everything she does is camouflaged, he said, adding that she probably made a deal with Rosemary, her mother, for money or other help. I asked him, had he been in love with Elizabeth? 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. Besides his work as producer has also dabbled as an interpreter and has released three studio albums, Limn, Son de Limn and Mujeres de Agua. Anna said she no longer cared if anyone saw them as lovers, since they had so little time left. Elizabeth had nervously trudged out of the cellblock, wearing purple eye shadow that contrasted with the white prison scrubs. Detective Lopez was studying for her sergeant's exam when the complaint was filed by Javier Limon, the girl's father. He stormed away. Because I could say something, and you could twist it around., At the second trial, there was far less talk of lesbianism. Limon was the boyfriend of Ramirez's sister at the time. His questions grew more personal. Do you think free access to journalism like this is important? 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. When the jury announced her guilt, Elizabeth remembers her mother standing up and screaming, No! Allowed five minutes to say goodbye to her family, Elizabeth was then escorted to a holding cell, where she fainted. Rosemary got a job supervising the cleaning staff at the courthouse downtown. Kristie, still unemployed, pawned a radio. Stephanie Limon Martinez, center, was just 7 when she and her older sister said the women sexually assaulted them. 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. Anna had seen Elizabeth unable to deal with the interests of men before. Follow her on Twitter @gina_k210, An inmate on trial for allegedly directing the 2014 murder of a Santa Maria drug dealer finished testifying in his own defense Friday but not . Elizabeth was completely lost in the huddle. Detective Matjeka had little or no experience interviewing children who making complaints of sexual . Some things were familiar: Elizabeth savored a strawberry shake from McDonalds and watched a Spurs game on television; Cassie went to a cookout for her sons birthday. Thats so rude, she said. In September, a new state law had taken effect, passed in the spring by the Texas Legislature. Elizabeth Ramirez holds her baby boy shortly after his birth in a family photo. I dont want to say I was disowned, but I was, Elizabeth told me. Philip Kazen, Elizabeths prosecutor, is now a judge. Vasquez's mother, Maria Vasquez, and aunt, Valeria Pachecano, attended the meeting in her place. They used those letters in order to entrap me, he said. Both later described it as love at first sight. VLs new testimony muddled the facts she had presented a year before. When he denied that the letters existed, she took them out and pointed to his signature. Fueled by the "Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic" of the day, baffling charges by one of the women's nieces send them all to prison. The four were convicted, in part, based on testimony from a pediatrician who said visible scarring to one of the girls hymens was proof of sexual abuse. She warned her daughter not to take care of Javiers daughters. 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. The crowd cheered. At this trial, the younger of Elizabeths nieces, Stephanie Limon, who was not a witness at Elizabeths trial, would testify (her name is used here because she has recently spoken to the media about the case). Now it was Anna who had wielded the gun, not Elizabeth. Elizabeth shrugged off her mothers warnings. I know youre very nervous, her lawyer said, according to the transcript. Shifts at Arbys. Outlets must also tag the Observer in all social media posts. 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. All rights reserved. She was 22. At the station, Matjeka asked if she knew a man named Javier Limon and his two daughters. Limon's body was found by fieldworkers, and autopsy results showed that he suffered 10 gunshot wounds that struck his lung, heart and liver. Im sad inside. Kelloggs admission suddenly undermined the key evidence in the case. In September 2015, Morris texted Alejandre, telling her to show up to court for her drug possession for sale charges, along with special gang enhancements, she testified. His parents sought asylum in Venezuela when he was five after dictator Augusto Pinochet rose to power. Anna Vasquez had played sports with Elizabeth in high school. Anna Vasquez, left, appears safe in her brother Robert Vasquez's arms as she returned home after serving 12 and a half years in prison. Promotional materials distributed by your outlet, including all social media work, must include cites for the Observer and our reporter. Ramirez has testified that the. Elizabeth, who had recently turned 20, climbed into his unmarked police car. 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. Detectives gave her a recording device and ordered her to call Morales in prison, record the conversation, then hand it over. Elizabeth claims back then Limon would. In high school, she remained small, never more than 4-foot-9, though that didnt keep her from playing on the basketball team. She testified under oath at the trial that Javier had arrived in Denver and threatened her with a gun. When I reached her by phone hoping to clarify what had happened, she told me, I dont talk to reporters. 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. Cameras flashed and clicked as the women were engulfed. Then Mike Ware, another lawyer with the Innocence Project, got involved. Every Sunday, she would write her son a letter and have her mother deliver it. 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.. Once released on bail, Elizabeth relied on family members to take care of her son while she worked at Taco Cabana and tried to fend off the assault charges. Ex-girlfriend of inmate charged with ordering slaying of Javier Limon testifies, Breaking News | Local Sports | Daily Headlines | Local Obituaries | Weather | Local Offers. The prosecutions expert witness was a doctor named Nancy Kellogg, who estimated that she had examined roughly 3,500 sexual assault victims, most of them children. Prison was a place of endless routine, and so she started one of her own. He may even take the stand and say again what he has always repeated, that he did what any parent would do. Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code. Site made in collaboration with CMYK. [Javiers younger daughter] told me herself, They were kissing us., Lonnie Gentry, the jury foreman at Elizabeths 1997 trial, listened to Javiers older daughter describe what had happened to her. The women had been drinking tequila and were topless, VL said. 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. The lawyers, standing in a row behind them, answered the big-picture questions about the new state law and the legal actions to come. The letter was several pages long and written in clear cursive script. He was an ex-boyfriend of Ramirez's sister who the family said had made romantic advances toward the much younger Ramirez. Morales was serving time for attempted murder at a Lancaster prison around the time of Limon's death, and was using a cellphone to communicate with fellow gang members, along with his girlfriend, Josie Alejandre. Elizabeths friends say she could have done more to reject Javiers advances. In her original statement to police, there had been no gun, but now there was one. Anna, Cassie, Kristie and Elizabeth emerged from the jail, holding hands in a line with Mike Ware, and raised their arms up. Mike Ware, left, is another lawyer working on the case. "They were involved in the opposition movement against the military regime. She said that her father Javier had coached her to make the accusations. The women cooperated with authorities and vehemently denied that any abuse had taken place. Sometimes truth has to border these parameters of strangeness of different times, weapons, and thats what happens here in this case.. Had she ever left her nieces under the care of her friends? Limon Martinez was just 7 when she and her older sister said the women sexually assaulted them. The man standing outside her small apartment had thick black hair. She discovered that Javiers two daughters had made abuse allegations before, in Denver, but then claimed at Elizabeths trial to not remember having done so. Matjeka's tone grew less friendly. She wasnt the spontaneous, happy-go-lucky girl that she would always be. Javier took his daughters to the hospital and the police station. At left is Rose Vasquez, Anna's sister-in-law, taking pictures. Then one day while he was at work, his mother, Serafina Limon, was cooking while the girls played outside. A modern tale of colonial-style persecution follows four Latina lesbiansElizabeth Ramirez, Cassandra Rivera, Kristie Mayhugh, and Anna Vasquezwrongfully convicted of sexual assault in the mid-1990s. A wiry, bearded man appears on camera and tells them the building was torn down. Statis. Gay rights activists treated them like rock stars. 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. She tried to get out, but the door was locked. Anna Vasquez fills in answering phones at her brother David Vasquez's auto shop on N. WW White on Feb. 19, 2013, while he is out of town. Every other day, she told me, shed clean the office of her sisters prosecutor, Philip Kazen. I remember reporters at the time wanting to know if we were trying these women because they were lesbian, which was ludicrous, she told me. In other ways, though, her life was starting to look up. Limon's body was found. She now says that didn't happen. They worked together at a nursing home, where the residents would constantly tell Gloria what a caring and charming girl she had raised. An affidavit submitted by a CPS caseworker outlines multiple accusations against the couple, from having a filthy apartment to being violent with each other, which they both deny. 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. After she turned 16, Elizabeth began to stay out later, experiment with drugs, date boys and fight with her mother, Gloria. I always felt like an outsider, my whole life, he said. At H-E-B they met Cassie Rivera, who, before coming to terms with her attraction to other women, had a son and a daughter and then split with their father. Mondos front-page story came out Christmas week 2010 with little impact. Were all friends. No. Javier Limn Customer Service Manager & Chief Digital Officer (CDO) en Volkswagen Financial Services - Mxico Gresser claimed thatAlejandre often missed calls from Morris, and still continued selling or using drugs. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. San Antonio police arrested Zion J. Limon, 20, in connection with the shootings. 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. He had already taken my kids, so he couldnt hurt me there. 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. 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One night Elizabeth stole some of her mothers prescription anxiety pills and overdosed. What happened to javier limon san antonio Opublikowane przez w dniu 6 listopada 2020 The new film Freedom Fighterpart of the 75th anniversary series Bob Marley Legacyexamines Marley as a symbol of human rights with a voice more powerful than any politician. Elizabeth and Kristie moved in together as friends. When offered plea deals of 10 years probation, they all refused and decided to go to trial. Anna Vasquez talks with her brother Jerry Vasquez on their mother's front porch after they celebrated her first Thanksgivings after being released on parole, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. On Saturday evening, officers were called to the apartment. 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.. The stories came after pressure from Javier Limon, Ramirez's former brother in law and the father of the two girls. 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