The sun started to set as family members and friends of the four women lined up outside the county jail, breathing in sharply each time the doors opened. Elizabeth had just learned of her pregnancy and was recovering from a car accident. One morning several days later, in September 1994, Elizabeths friends Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez met at a park. Every other day, she told me, shed clean the office of her sisters prosecutor, Philip Kazen. 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. I always felt like an outsider, my whole life, he said. Two days after their release, the women appeared at a hastily arranged press conference. Shifts at Arbys. Matjeka's tone grew less friendly. Fueled by the "Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic" of the day, baffling charges by one of the women's nieces send them all to prison. Yes. The prosecutors, as well as Javier when we spoke 15 years later, accounted for the inconsistencies by saying the girls were young children who could hardly be expected to keep facts straight. 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. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. what happened to javier limon san antonio. 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. The arresting officers would not even let me kiss him goodbye.. Im sad inside. Our new endorsement for Texas Attorney General. 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. Both later described it as love at first sight. The children in family aren't allowed to be at family gatherings with Anna present. From the bathroom, she heard screams from her younger sister. I want my babies back, she said, crying. Stephanie Limon Martinez, center, was just 7 when she and her older sister said the women sexually assaulted them. Dr. Kellogg has told the Bexar County District Attorneys office that her initial claims at the trial are outdated and that she wouldnt offer the same testimony today. This makes us one of the biggest by prevailing local standards. She had rejected his advances. Anna counseled her, You need to tell somebody, because thats not right. Another friend says Elizabeth kept telling me over and over that she was afraid something was going to happen with Javier. A tearful Anna Vasquez, left, embraces her mother Maria Vasquez. 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. It doesnt mean were all intimate together, had any kind of sexual togetherness., The trial lasted only a couple of days. Javier claimed they were forged by Rosemary as a pretext for taking the kids from him. 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. In her original statement to police, there had been no gun, but now there was one. A car provided by the Innocence Project of Texas whisked them away. Of course she did. Then one day while he was at work, his mother, Serafina Limon, was cooking while the girls played outside. She served 12 and a half years. Elizabeth Ramirez holds her baby boy shortly after his birth in a family photo. Swimming with the kids. So she decided to tell her lawyer about Javier. She saw them often. Comment * at what temperature do stink bugs die. Stephanie now said the women had never abused her. No. It involved four women from San Antonio. One of them, Elizabeth Ramirez, had a profile on the website WriteAPrisoner.com. at what weight should i use a belt for deadlifts . what happened to javier limon san antonio Updates - Experience in Banking and Finance Updates - Experience in Energy Law About ETAH-NAN & Co. ETAH-NAN & C is a bilingual (French and English) Law Firm created in 1985. 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. 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 When I handed him copies of the letters, he leafed through them disinterestedly. Elizabeth was completely lost in the huddle. A sentence of 37 and a half years was a compromise between more and less lenient jurors. After Cassandra went to prison, her mother got a white puppy and named it Teddy Bear. He liked to party and her workaholic lifestyle drove them apart, but not before she became pregnant with his son. The letters refer to Elizabeth as My Little Angel and include bits of poetry. For 20 years, Elizabeth Ramirez, Kristie Mayhugh, Cassandra Rivera and Anna Vasquez have fought to prove their innocence. Did you threaten him with pepper spray? the lawyer asked. Matjeka was helping investigate a sex crime and asked if she would come to the station to answer a few questions. A statue of a praying angel stands near Maria Vasquez, right, in her living room where Vasquez prayed daily for her daughter Anna Vasquez. One of the women told a court that the accusations came after she spurned Limons advances for marriage. Hes been married but now lives alone 40 miles outside of Whitehorse, the territorys capital and, at 30,000 residents, its largest city. The girls father, Javier Limon, who had dated her sister Rosemary before a messy breakup, had been making advances toward her, she said. But still they were baffled. Kristies parents were divorced and her mother, like Elizabeths, was uncomfortable with her daughters sexual orientation. Alejandre later was promised by police that her charges would be dismissed if she agreed to cooperate with their investigation and also testify. They couldnt get me drunk or doing anything illegal. He and Rosemary had gone through a messy custody battle over the kids after she moved to Denver and began a relationship with a former friend of Javiers named Oscar Aguirre. Prior to the accusation, Elizabeth had rejected the advances of the children's father Javier Limon. Had he offered to marry her? That was the last time they spoke. So he traveled to Texas to get a better sense of who she was. She was 22. Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. She also noted that while she did regularly use and sell drugs, she only sold the substances to support her children, and wasn't paying taxes to gangs, or to Morales. 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. Investigators say Richard Adam Hernandez shot and killed Rose Marie Limon on January 31 at her apartment on Pecan Valley Drive. The crowd cheered. 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. It wasnt something easily picked up by the wires.. 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. 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. We have no ads to show you! Her older niece hadnt acted the way she expected. Holidays and birthdays were the hardest. Though he mentioned Stephanies recantation, and mistakes made by police and lawyers involved in the original trial, his primary argument was that Dr. Kelloggs testimony was inaccurate, since the medical understanding of what constitutes evidence of sexual abuse had changed. They were each sentenced to 15 years, but the judge decided they could remain out of prison until their appeals had been exhausted. He declined to comment, saying he thought the Express-News didn't properly represent his side in a 2010 story about the women. Cassandra Rivera, seen here Sept. 5, 2012, is currently in the Hobby Unit in Marlin, Texas. The scene of the crime had vanished. There aren't many places she is allowed to go. Were they lesbians? Elizabeth and Kristie moved in together as friends. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. All rights reserved. She testified that she called Stafford police because she didn't want an argument between her father and her husband getting out of hand. Dogs were barking and a few neighbors watched from a distance as she sat on the front steps and talked to a local TV anchor. It was nearly silent, except for little clusters of words between the sobs. The crowd followed the women down the jail steps. The man standing outside her small apartment had thick black hair. Limon was her sisters ex-boyfriend, and the two daughters were her 7- and 9-year-old nieces. While working at H-E-B, she got to know Kristie Mayhugh, who was born in Montana and moved to San Antonio at age 3 when her father was transferred to the Randolph Air Force Base. At left is Rose Vasquez, Anna's sister-in-law, taking pictures. She tried to get out, but the door was locked. Theres a home video from the period shortly before Kristie, Cassie and Anna went to prison in 2000. Nathan convinced a filmmaker she had mentored named Deborah S. Esquenazi to take a look at the case. But as he scanned articles on the Internet, there was one case that didnt fit the pattern. 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. San Antonio police arrested Zion J. Limon, 20, in connection with the shootings. The language was chatty and upbeat. Promotional Rates were found for your code. As their families paid lawyers to file appeals, Cassie and Anna, still very much in love, set out together to investigate the case on their own. 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. In the spare, gray courtroom, Cassie, who often wore denim overalls, had on a black dress with white flowers. They did. Our whole relationship was based on him controlling me, she said. More letters followed, each one taking about two weeks between his home and Elizabeths prison in Marlin. Youre confusing yourself because I said that Kristie wanted a relationship with mea gay relationship with me. The allegations that arose in 1994 stunned Elizabeth Ramirez. Shortly after his daughters stayed at Elizabeths apartment, Javier called her and said he had something important to tell her. Gloria Herrera shows her favorite pictures of her daughter, Elizabeth Ramirez, Friday, Dec. 3, 2010. During that conversation, which was played to the jury, Alejandre could be heard asking Morales who killed Limon. I know youre very nervous, her lawyer said, according to the transcript. Cassie saw Elizabeth for the first time at a Catholic mass. Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code. With her are her lawyer, Casie Gotro, and her husband, Joseph Martinez. 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. 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. In November, Anna was released on parole. The stories came after pressure from Javier Limon, Ramirez's former brother in law and the father of the two girls. Alejandre testified that she agreed to plead to the charges in September 2016 but still believed her case would be dismissed. Had someone died? 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. All four of the women were out as lesbians, a fact that colored the investigation into the accusations and case against them. Anna had seen Elizabeth unable to deal with the interests of men before. Elizabeth Ramirez is in the Hobby Unit in Marlin, Texas, September 5, 2012. 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. He knew what was going to hurt me the most, she told me. 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. The cameramen turned on their night-lights, which reflected off the glass of the jail door. The case caught the attention of just almost every eyeball out there. I asked him, had he been in love with Elizabeth? An emotional Anna Vasquez pauses before answering questions about three of her friends who are still in prison. When offered plea deals of 10 years probation, they all refused and decided to go to trial. Still hale in his mid-50s, with close-cropped hair, Otto lives without reliable electricity or running water. Anna Vasquez served more than a decade of time in jail while the three other women are still serving time. The women had been drinking tequila and were topless, VL said. Esquenazi became passionately involved, collecting footage for a documentary that she is still filming. Prison was a place of endless routine, and so she started one of her own. 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. Her lawyer, Casie Gotro, is at left. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. 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. She looked stoic and resigned. 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. Originally the most reticent of the four, Anna became their spokeswoman. Visitors give TX state park final farewell after land sold, Dallas judge revives sexual misconduct suit against Jerry Jones. Elizabeth, who had recently turned 20, climbed into his unmarked police car. Do you think free access to journalism like this is important? Limon Martinez was just 7 when she and her older sister said the women sexually assaulted them. Lopez, who normally handled child sexual abuse cases. It was August 2012, and Stephanie, then 25, was a mother herself. Waiting to solve 5. You got lucky! Thank you for using this website. Elizabeth moved in with her sister Rosemary, who was then living with Javier Limon and their three young children. Sometimes truth has to border these parameters of strangeness of different times, weapons, and thats what happens here in this case.. Kristie Mayhugh, seen here Sept. 4, 2012, is incarcerated at the 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. They used those letters in order to entrap me, he said. I tried writing the innocence projects and Oprah and Maury Povich and Montel, Anna told me, anybody who would listen. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. Anna remembers Elizabeth coming to her real upset and describing Javiers inappropriate comments. There was seldom evidence other than the statements of children or adults who recovered memories from their youth. 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. 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.. 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. Limon Martinez said it was her father who was rough with her son then. Maybe the lawyer could explain to the authorities that no crime had occurred; it was just a malicious accusation orchestrated by a bitter man. In the backseat of a car, Stephanie Limon (now Stephanie Martinez) read from a sheet of notebook paper. 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. Limon was her sister's ex-boyfriend, and the two daughters were her 7- and. 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 thought I was up to something, Otto told me. More of his work can be found at mauricechammah.com. In the early 1990s, he told me, he had been working as a heavy-equipment operator for the city of San Antonio and dating Rosemary. 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. A wiry, bearded man appears on camera and tells them the building was torn down. She said that her father Javier had coached her to make the accusations. Elizabeths roommate Kristie Mayhugh was at her mothers apartment in Rosenberg, outside Houston, when the police surrounded the building and ordered her out. 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