[pained exhale]
[sniffling]
That's the way I remember him,
evil.
He couldn't even look at the camera
because he knows what he did was wrong.
I think Chevo died still not caring.
He had that evilness that he didn't even care
or had no remorse in what he did.
But he is where he's supposed to be, in hell.
This is Laura.
She looks totally different from the way
I had remembered her. I don't --
I don't recognize her,
but that face, it's evil.
You can just see it in her eyes.
She took my childhood from me.
She got what she [bleep] deserved.
My aunt and uncle were evil people.
I wanted to kill them in their sleep
because I was in so much pain. That's how far they pushed me,
just almost becoming a murderer.
I think that's why, that it's hard for me to
remember, because I try to not remember that part.
[The Paper Chase's "What's So Amazing About Grace?" plays]
[strings continue playing sinister tune]
[static crackling]
[knock at door] [creaking]
[banging on door] [creaking]
[water dripping]
[banging on door] [creaking]
[sinister chord strikes]
I was born in San Antonio, Texas.
I have two siblings.
So my sister was the oldest, then it was me and then
my brother.
My mom was a single mom raising us by herself, but my mom was
not stable enough to watch me and my siblings.
She was a drug addict, and she had problems drinking
as well. So CPS took us away.
And I was about nine years old at that time.
Chevo was my mom's brother.
Hi, sweetie.
Hi.
[Abigail] It was scary, confusing,
really sad.
But I was relieved because I was gonna be with family,
and my siblings were gonna be with me,
and we would always stay together as a family.
Looking back, I wish I ended up being separated
and with strangers.
I remember being home alone with my Uncle Chevo,
and we were on the couch in the living room.
Hey.
[Abigail] And I remember him grabbing my leg and rubbing my feet.
And then his rubbing started going up gradually on my legs.
And it felt
wrong.
And he did look at me and he did say, "I don't want you to tell
"nobody about this, not even your Aunt Laura.
This is our secret."
So I felt like it was something that wasn't supposed to
be happening.
I felt very nervous and scared and confused.
I didn't know what to think because I didn't know
what was going on.
I was so little, and I didn't know if it was right or wrong.
In the days and times that followed, I didn't feel
comfortable being around him.
I think avoiding my uncle
made him find other ways to be alone with me.
And the abuse started getting worse.
In the bedroom that I shared with my older sister,
we had a bunk bed.
And I slept on the top, and my sister slept
on the bottom.
We would leave the hallway light on with our door kind of
cracked because we were kind of scared of the dark.
I remember seeing, like, a shadow
underneath the doorway.
[creaking]
I would hear the door creaking,
or...
...hearing my Uncle Chevo climbing up the ladder
to get onto the bed with me.
Knowing that he was climbing into my bed was very scary.
I didn't understand
what was going on or what he was doing
in the bed with me.
There was a part of me that felt that I had done something
wrong for him to be touching me the way he was.
First time that my uncle touched me,
I was about nine years old.
And it was like that for a few years, and it progressed.
The first time that he raped me,
I was 12 years old in middle school.
I did hope that my sister would hear or maybe catch him
one time or something, but she never did.
I really didn't understand what was going on so I didn't know
how to defend myself at the time.
I knew his one rule was not to tell nobody.
So as a kid, I didn't.
At some point I did tell my Aunt Laura that I needed to
tell her a secret, and she, um...
...she said, "OK."
We went to her room and we sat on her bed and I told her,
"Uncle Chevo has been getting into the bed with me
and touching me in ways that I don't think are right."
And she just closed me off.
[echoing] Stop.
She told me that she didn't think that he was capable of
doing anything like that and that she knew
that I was lying.
She made it very clear that I wasn't allowed
to talk about it to anybody.
Not a word of this outside my house.
She's supposed to be my mom, so I would expect her to
protect me and do something about it,
and I didn't get that.
I felt very sad and betrayed that my Aunt Laura didn't
believe me, and scared because I didn't know who else
I could go to and tell, because if she didn't believe me,
who is going to believe me? I couldn't trust nobody.
This picture was me and my sister goofing off
in our bedroom.
I was roughly 12.
If anybody else was looking at this photo, they would see
a normal, happy child.
But behind the mask, it --
she wasn't normal, and she wasn't happy.
It was a cover-up, but she had to pretend that she was happy.
I was told not to tell nobody the truth, and I was scared of
what was gonna happen if I did tell the truth.
I felt like I was committing a crime,
that I did something wrong, and I would end up in jail.
It was terrifying to live with that idea.
One weekend when I was 12 or 13,
some of my cousins and aunt and uncle came to visit.
And it all changed when family was around.
I remember one day, we were outside playing,
and there was this boy that caught my eye.
I had a crush on him, and I think
he had a crush on me too.
We sat down talking, and things led up to another.
And we started kissing.
That was my first kiss.
It felt funny, but it felt good at the same time.
The butterflies were, um,
like a good, nervous feeling.
There was a lot of things in my life that weren't normal,
but that felt normal and OK.
I didn't realize that my cousin was watching, or she could even
see us kissing.
I'm telling, I'm telling!
I pushed him away.
And just all of a sudden, I hear her screaming,
"You're kissing a boy!
I'm gonna go and tell."
And I was like begging her not to tell my Aunt Laura
and Uncle Chevo that I was kissing this boy because
I would get in serious trouble.
I started crying because I knew I was gonna get in trouble
and maybe get a spanking. She didn't understand how
severe my punishment was gonna be.
I walked in, and I remember seeing everybody in
the living room.
The look on my uncle's face when I got into the house,
he looked very pissed off.
Like, his face was red in anger.
It was the first time I've seen him that mad.
I remember seeing my Uncle Chevo with the belt.
The only thing I remember him saying was to put my hands
on the couch.
My Uncle Chevo took the beating way too far.
In that moment, I did feel like it was very severe.
The spanking stopped because somebody told him
to stop hitting me, that that was enough.
At that moment, I thanked God that there was other people
around to have him stop, because I didn't think he would
stop spanking me.
Looking back now, I feel like his anger was coming
from jealousy.
I feel that he was jealous that I was kissing this boy,
and maybe not him.
After that day, I knew that it was not going to be OK for me
to be doing normal things like other kids.
I wasn't able to have a normal childhood
because my Uncle Chevo wanted me for himself,
and that wasn't normal.
I had a best friend, and we were inseparable.
We were like sisters, pretty much.
I always went to her house because it felt safe.
And I didn't want her to go to my house.
So I kind of kept her away on purpose from my house.
I trusted her enough to tell her the truth.
So that's what led me up to tell her.
I have to tell you something, but you promise not to say.
We were sitting together, and that's when
I just told her the secret.
She looked scared and said that wasn't right and it shouldn't
be happening, so we should tell somebody, like her mom.
You can't.
I told her in tears that we can't tell nobody
what's going on.
And she just kept saying, "No, we have to."
It was very scary for me.
We have to say something.
I didn't want to get in trouble if they found out
I told the secret.
And then she finally said, "OK, I promise
I won't tell nobody."
So I thought she kept that secret.
My friend told her mom my secret.
The mom reported it to Child Protective Services.
Why don't you start packing, sweetie?
They didn't say where we're going.
They just said, we're leaving, and we need to leave
by tonight, so we did as we were told.
There was no explanation on why or where we were going at all.
And we moved from there,
and I never got to see her again.
I understand why she told her mom my secret.
She was just trying to get me some help to maybe stop it,
and that's what I wanted was for it to stop.
After that, what had kept me from telling anyone at school,
teachers, friends, was that CPS would end up telling
my aunt and uncle and we would move again.
I felt ashamed.
I was so embarrassed about what was going on.
There was so many things I was afraid of to tell anybody.
It was easier for me just to keep silent.
There was one time that my aunt and uncle wanted to
have a conversation.
I was already in high school at that time.
Abby, come sit.
I remember my uncle looking serious.
They both were serious. They had that look.
Is everything okay?
They told me I wasn't in trouble.
We were just going to have a conversation.
The conversation started that I was going to have
their baby because my aunt wasn't able to have kids.
And I looked at her like if they were crazy.
My jaw dropped and I was shocked.
I didn't know what to think, that they want a teenager to
have a baby for them. It was very shocking.
You can't do this.
I told her, "You're effing crazy.
I'm not going to have a baby. Like, I'm still in high school."
So I told her no, that I didn't want to.
And they were like, "Yes, there's no saying no."
There's no debate. That's end of conversation.
Please.
There was like nothing I could do to stop it.
I didn't feel like my body was mine.
I felt like it was theirs.
This was the moment when I realized that my aunt was
just as evil as my uncle.
And in my eyes, I felt they were both monsters.
And I cried most of the day.
And I talked to myself and told myself, like, "How is
this happening? Why is this happening?"
Looking back now, I think that she knew and was aware of
everything that was happening with him and me.
And she chose to ignore it because she didn't want to lose
my uncle's love.
That makes her... a monster.
When I was pregnant, I did have a lot of feelings.
I didn't want to be on Earth no more.
I was very depressed. I just wanted to be alone.
My uncle had threatened me about if I told anybody that
I would go to jail, and the baby would end up in foster care.
It was hard to hide the truth.
If it came up, then I had to lie and say that I messed
around with some other kid, you know,
from school or whatever.
And I knew that was a lie.
When I was going into labor, I was told not to tell anybody.
They demanded it from me.
So I didn't tell anybody, but I did want to.
But my aunt and uncle were in the room the whole time.
And when I was able to hold my newborn, I felt happy.
It felt amazing to hold my baby in my hands.
I felt like I was on top of the world.
I was able to hold her until the nurses walked out.
Then my aunt ended up grabbing her.
She took her and said that, "This is my baby.
She'll be calling you sister when she grows up."
I felt like
I wasn't even there,
Felt...
really lost.
[sniffling]
And used.
They used me.
At that time, I was taking care of the kids, and my aunt
and uncle, and doing all the household chores.
It was like if I was a maid or a slave in my own house.
And eventually, it got worse.
My aunt and uncle
started making me do a ritual every night.
I remember having to massage my aunt and uncle every night that
my hands would cramp up and I would get so uncomfortable
and wanna stop, but I wasn't able to.
I felt on edge every night because it turned into
something sexual with both of them.
I felt like I was a sex slave to my aunt and uncle.
[lock clicks]
I felt trapped, like I wasn't gonna be able to get out
or be a part of the real world.
I never left the house unless it was with the family.
I felt so scared.
And this went on for years...
...years.
It got to me, but I was thinking about the kids.
I didn't want to get separated from them or end up in jail
and them in foster care like I did.
Running away wasn't something I thought about
because I was being brainwashed.
My uncle was putting things in my head, and I was believing
them, and it just felt like
I didn't have a mind of my own.
Looking back, I wish I had ran away.
In this picture, it's me,
my Aunt Laura, and my three kids.
I was roughly
20 years old in this picture,
just seeing her...
and her holding my kids...
I was an outsider to them. I wasn't their mom.
She was, and that's what this picture shows.
It's -- it was hard for me to smile for any photo.
I forced myself to make it seem
that nothing was going on, hoping that one day
I would get out for everyone.
My uncle had explained to me what would happen if
I was to tell anybody, and his explanation was that
he was going to kill me and the kids.
He would slice our throats
while we were sleeping,
and I do believe he was capable of that.
He was trying to scare me, in not to telling anybody,
and it worked.
My aunt and uncle were religious.
They were Catholics so I was raised to say
the rosary, and we went to Catholic Church every Sunday.
As my daughter was growing up, my aunt and uncle decided that
she was a healer and she could perform miracles.
It sounded really crazy to me, it did.
I didn't know what she was talking about.
My aunt and uncle put it out on Facebook.
It got so big, my daughter wound up on the news.
[news broadcaster] Some believe God and the Virgen de Guadalupe
has given Paige the gift of healing.
This is a plan he has for her, and the faith
that she has in God.
People say, "Oh, the miracle child.
"She's not the miracle child.
It's not her, it's just, she's God's vessel."
[broadcaster] And just as quickly, we're reminded
she's still a child.
[Paige on broadcast] "Mommy, what's a vessel?"
"A boat."
It's heartbreaking
to me to hear my daughter call her mommy.
I haven't heard it in so long.
And seeing how young my daughter was
and seeing what she was doing made it so hard for me to see
it again, because she would do that at least six to seven
hours a day.
She was so innocent.
She was being used into luring people in
and getting their money.
And I feel sorry for my daughter, too, because
she had to go through that.
The people that were coming
were ill, and they wanted to be healed.
But in reality, there was,
it wasn't real.
She lured people in and she was really good at it.
It was all just a scam just to get their money.
This is a picture of me and Rudy having dinner
for...I believe it was his birthday.
When me and Rudy were hiding our relationship from
my aunt and uncle,
I would wait till they left to work and I would take the kids
to school and he would meet me down the street.
Talking to him made me feel so safe.
I wasn't used to it because I was not around safe men
like Rudy.
He just seemed very different and nice, sweet man.
This was the guy
that was gonna help me out through the hell
I was living in.
I had told him one time that there was a secret
that I was holding in from him, and then I finally told him
what was going on,
and he said he wanted to help me and my kids get out of there
because that wasn't right.
He was very angry, but I told him there's nothing
that I could do because
if he was to get involved, or if I was to leave,
they would find me and kill us all.
[as Chevo] Disgusting! You're vile!
When my uncle found out about me and Rudy, he lost his mind
and grabbed a gasoline.
He started pouring the gasoline around the house and yelling
that I was a whore and a slut,
[indistinct shouting]
and he was gonna burn us all
if I didn't do what was told of me.
[as Chevo] You're disgusting!
"If you don't stop seeing Rudy, I'm gonna burn this house
down, and nobody will be able to see you or the kids anymore."
[as Laura] Chevo!
-Get out of here, go! -[as Chevo grunts]
I felt like my uncle was psychotic.
It was just crazy.
In that moment, I believed he can do it and he would.
My aunt was able to calm him down and take him inside.
After that, I knew I had to find a way to escape
and protect my children.
I was not safe in that house.
My uncle needed to be in a mental house.
It was cruel and evil.
I was done being in there.
I believed that my kids and myself were in danger.
So I told Rudy, enough is enough.
I'm done. I want to get out of here.
My aunt and uncle were at work, and he told me be ready.
And that's what I did.
I ended up getting a pair of clothes for me, maybe two to
three pairs of clothes for my kids.
And that's all I left with.
I was scared for my life and Rudy's life
and everybody's life in that house.
I was worried that my uncle was gonna find out
and come after me.
I never knew if my uncle was planning to show up
and kill us.
I held this secret in for so long that when I finally went
to the police department to tell my secret,
I was terrified.
I was afraid that they wouldn't believe me.
I was shaking in fear because I didn't know
what was gonna happen.
I didn't know if I was going to get in trouble as well.
I was still in that mindset that my uncle told me,
I would go to jail too.
All of those years that my uncle put all of those
thoughts in my head were still in my mind.
After telling the cops, I realized that he had been
lying to me and was wrong.
I cried in disbelief. It was finally over.
I was in shock. I couldn't believe it.
And I still couldn't believe it until we went to trial
and actually saw them in their orange suits with
their handcuffs on.
Seeing him like that in court
made me realize that he wasn't powerful,
that he wasn't going to make
nobody hurt no more.
The prosecutor had asked me if I...
...uh, wanted to do an impact statement.
I wanted them to hear from my voice.
This is my...
...impact statement to my Uncle Chevo.
You were supposed to be my guardian
and my father,
to raise me and to take care of me, to love me, but yet
you did the opposite.
You took my childhood away from me.
Chevo, you tormented me
and tortured me for more than a decade.
You are a monster.
You will not hurt me or my two beautiful, wonderful daughters
and anyone else...
...innocent...
[under breath] I'm sorry.
...and take anyone else's innocence away from them.
The punishment you receive today
is the punishment you deserve for being so evil.
It was hard to read this in the courtroom because I was
face-to-face with him,
and the coward that he is, couldn't even look up
and acknowledge that I was there, but I was fine with it.
It just felt like I needed to tell him these words and let
him know what he was.
It helped me cope just a tiny bit, just to let him know
he was a monster, he was a coward,
and that he wasn't going to do this to anybody else.
And he got what he deserved.
When I heard their sentences, I felt like I got my justice.
But he didn't spend that much time in prison, because he died.
I was pissed off because I wanted him to suffer longer
like he made me suffer
all these years.
I was always taught to forgive but don't forget
because God sees that.
I forgive these evil people.
I'm healing myself for forgiving them.
It's for me to let go of
everything that they have done to me.
Rudy gave me the courage to start fighting again.
It brought a light to my life and knowing that there was
something to fight for and not to give up.
I feel without Rudy, I would still be there at that house
with my aunt and uncle.
He's been a rock for me.
My brother and sister and I don't have much of
a relationship anymore.
And I just wish I had that with them.
But now my kids and my husband are my world.
I couldn't be here without them.
My life now, I never thought it was possible.
I never thought I would
be so happy and, um,
raising my kids and teaching them right from wrong.
I don't want my kids to ever think that I regretted
having them.
I, in a million years,
will never regret having kids
because I love them so much, and I'll do anything for them.
They helped me heal. They helped me be happy.
I live for them, I --
I leave the past in the past for them so I can get up
and make my kids happy and my husband happy.
I see people that have not told their stories
and I want them to
be okay with, you know, getting the help that they need
when it's time for them to speak out.
I'm very hopeful that they see this
and they won't be so scared
to tell the story that they went through.
♪♪
He definitely aspired to be like Ted Bundy.
What a mean son of a bitch.
This is the face of evil, right here.
You're a sorry piece of [bleep],
and I'm glad that you can't hurt anybody anymore.