Horror truth behind San Antonio's 'Miracle Girl': Couple raped their adopted daughter for years, got her pregnant three times and passed off the children as their own before setting up a backyard church claiming one of the kids could CURE CANCER
By Emily Crane
Daily Mail
July 20, 2018
A San Antonio woman has been jailed for 33 years after she and her husband raped their adopted daughter for years and forced her to give birth to three children that they then passed off as their own.
Laura Castillo and her husband Eusebio were both arrested early last year after the 15-years of abuse against their adopted daughter Abigail Alvarado, now 28, finally came to light.
In addition to the horrific abuse, shocking details also emerged after their arrests of how the Castillos had created a church in their backyard and duped hundreds of people into believing one of the children Abigail gave birth to was a 'Miracle Child' who could cure cancer.
Laura pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated sexual assault and was sentenced this week in a San Antonio court for her role in the horror ordeal.
Meanwhile her husband, a former US Army sergeant, is still awaiting trial on charges of sexual assault and prohibited sexual contact.
The investigation into the couple began back in 2014 when Abigail finally reported the abuse to police.
Abigail, who is also the couple's niece, told authorities the abuse had begun 15 years earlier when she was just nine.
At the time, she had been taken away from her alcoholic mother and sent to live with the Castillos in Hawaii on an army base. They later officially adopted her.
In an interview with Express News following their arrests, Abigail detailed how Eusebio began climbing into her bunk at night to molest her almost as soon as she arrived. She said she tried telling Laura but claimed her adopted mother ignored it and said she didn't believe her.
The family moved to Texas in 2001 when Abigail was in her early teens. She claims that Eusebio started raping her when she was 13 and that Laura also started 'helping out' and forced her to perform sex acts on the couple. Abigail also claims that the couple would often beat and verbally abuse her.
Abigail said that Laura eventually demanded she become a 'surrogate mother' for the couple.
When she became pregnant for the first time with Eusebio's child, she tried to hide her stomach at school before lying and telling people that a boy at another high school was the father.
She gave birth to a daughter when she was 17, before going on to have another girl at the age of 20 and a boy when she was 23.
The three children were raised believing - as well as everyone else - that Laura and Eusebio were the parents and that Abigail was their sister.
Abigail has since said she feared coming forward about the abuse because Eusebio had repeatedly threatened to harm her children and kill himself.
The Castillos eventually moved to San Antonio in 2009 where they set up the St Peregrine Chapel, as part of the Mexican Catholic Apostolic Church, in their backyard.
Over the next few years, the couple received donations from thousands of churchgoers who believed the couple's daughter - who was Abigail's firstborn - was a healer who could provide relief to cancer patients.
Abigail said it was at the makeshift church that she met her future husband Rudy Alvarado. She credits him as the person who eventually helped her report the Castillos to authorities.
She said it took years before she was able to tell Rudy the truth and, even then, she still didn't want to alert authorities.
Abigail said the turning point came in 2014 when Laura was rushed to hospital and they all thought she would die.
Eusebio allegedly told Abigail: 'After she dies, it's me and you. We're going to get married and have more kids and continue the chapel. On the outside we'll be father and daughter, but on the inside we're married.'
Eusebio and Laura fled soon after she reported the abuse to police.
Police eventually tracked the couple down two years later after Laura set up a GoFundMe page, which listed San Juan, Texas as her location, as she asked for donations for her medical condition.
Eusebio was arrested in February 2017 and his wife was taken into custody in June that same year.
Abigail is now raising her children with her husband and has since reconnected with her birth mother.
No comments:
Post a Comment