As she sat in a jail cell for nearly 15 years, Elizabeth Ramirez continued to profess her innocence. Accused, along with three friends, of molesting her very own nieces, she was found guilty and sentenced to 16 to 37 1/2 years in prison. Never losing hope, it seems her prayers for release may be coming true as one of the alleged victims has recanted her story.
“I want my aunt and her friends out of prison,” Stephanie, 25, told a reporter. “Whatever it takes to get them out I'm going to do. I can't live my life knowing that four women are sleeping in a cage because of me.” If she is now telling the truth, she has done a horrible, almost unforgivable thing to those poor women, but there are other victims of this lie too.
In 1984, the girls, then 7 and 9, accused their 20-year-old aunt, Kristie Mayhugh, Anna Vasquez, and Cassandra Rivera of a sick, orgy-like assault. They said the woman were drunk and high off pot as they held down their little wrists and ankles and repeatedly violated them. "They painted us as monsters," Ramirez has said. It was a story police, prosecutors, the community, and even some family members believed. And why shouldn't they.
As a mom, I would believe my kid straight away. You know, I even turn a leery eye to adults my son doesn't like or seems to be uncomfortable around. So if he were to tell me something that horrific, I would never doubt him. I would want the person's head on a stick.
It's not just parents. As adults -- we believe children when it comes to charges of abuse, molestation, and rape. But here, an entire community and judicial system may have been fooled. All these years later, an adult Stephanie says the visit with her aunt that day was actually uneventful. Her sister has yet to recant the story, so it's unclear whether the convicted woman will be formally exonerated. For their part, however, the inmates say they are just happy the truth is finally coming out.
A story like this just turns my stomach. I feel for everyone involved, especially those innocent people. Still, I would never doubt my child and any other for that matter. Our instinct is to protect, not question. But the scary truth is that instinct can be used to ultimately betray us. What do we do then?
Does this case shock or anger you?
Image via Ken_Mayer/Flickr
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Comments 14
I think it's time as a society that we acknowledge children lie... my MIL believes without a doubt that my stepdaughter is never wrong no matter how much proof we have and a lot of people are like this. Children abuse this trust we put in them and then stuff like this happens. It's sad too because now-a-days children can manipulate situations, if a child is bad and they are punished, they know all too well that their parents can be arrested for going overboard and can/will hold this over their parent's heads. I feel for this family and I hope justice is served and the (now adults) involved in this should be held accountable.. at least a perjury charge.
Actually it was 1994 when it happened. It makes me feel angry that kids would lie about this. That just hurts the real child victims and then grown ups would have the reason to not believe them because kids have lied about this stuff. I would be so angry if my own child did this and I would have a hard time forgiving them if they did it to me. Why did those girls lie about their aunt and her friends?
But as Dr Phil has said, you are supposed to believe your child and you prove what they said it true.
This girl is a criminal. An awful, sick person who didn't only ruin these women's lives, but the lives of many girls whose TRUE stories may be ignored because of this. Sex offenders are despicable people who deserve to be locked up for life, which is why there should be thorough investigation before someone is convicted. It is a serious matter, not a game. Four innocent women were locked up for 15 YEARS, with the world believing they were disgusting perverts. Some of these women may have children; children who not only grew up hating their mothers and had to put up with the stigma of being the children of sex offenders, but if they were really young when it happened they might have not met their mothers at all. And all that, because of a group of sick little girls who thought it would be fun to throw innocent people in jail. They should be ashamed of themselves for pretending to be victims of such a thing.