A California woman was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison for torturing her 10-year-old stepdaughter and abusing three other children. The girl told her abuser during the sentencing: “I hope you die.”
Mayra Chavez, 35, of Anaheim, left the girl with a broken neck, a bone sticking out of an unhealed wound and bruises from head to toe as a result of her brutality, police said. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
She was convicted by a jury last month of one felony count of torture, two felony counts of child abuse and child endangerment and one felony count of causing great bodily harm.
During the trial, witnesses explained the abuse the girl suffered, including being forced to kneel on rice or cans with her hands and legs tied.
They said the 10-year-old was dunked face first into a bathtub full of ice while the zipper was tied and habanero pepper was rubbed into her eyes.
Mayra Chavez, 35, was sentenced to nearly 15 years for torturing her 10-year-old stepdaughter and abusing three other children
The girl was left with a broken neck, a bone protruding from an unhealed wound and bruises from head to toe as a result of the assault.
“This methodical and diabolical torture of children was normalized in this household to the point where these children believed it was their fault that they were being abused,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said.
“The system has failed this little girl. The system failed its brothers and sisters,” he said. “We will get to the bottom of how this happened and what can be done to prevent another child from suffering the same fate these children suffered at the hands of the people charged with protecting them.”
The 10-year-old read a handwritten victim impact statement to a courtroom full of friends and family, dressed in her favorite color, purple.
With a glittery purple walker at her side, the girl told her abuser, “I hope you die.”
Chavez was also convicted of abusing another stepdaughter and two of her own children. A jury convicted her of assaulting her 17-year-old son.
She was sentenced to seven years to life plus seven years and ten months for torturing her, the ten-year-old, and abusing the other children.
In August 2022, the girl’s father, Domingo Junior Flores, rushed the child to the hospital when she became unresponsive.
Witnesses said the 10-year-old was forced to kneel on rice or cans with her hands and legs tied
The girl was dunked face first into a bathtub full of ice while zip tied and had habanero pepper rubbed into her eyes
He told police and hospital staff that the girl, who weighed only 50 pounds, had hurt herself by falling down the stairs.
Flores is awaiting trial on one felony count of torture, two felony counts of child abuse and child endangerment, one felony count of child abuse and child endangerment and one felony count of causing great bodily harm.
The girl’s father had been awarded full custody of his two eldest daughters after a lengthy legal battle, despite numerous violations of court orders reported to authorities and multiple interactions with county social workers alleging abuse.
Police had previously been called to the house to conduct a welfare check on the 10-year-old, and CCTV footage showed Chavez laughing and pointing to food in the house.
During their check, officers did not see that the girl was tied to the bed in one of the bedrooms with a zip tie.
In her victim impact statement, the girl’s mother said: ‘We sleep in soft beds with fluffy blankets surrounded by more pillows than we can count. We take warm baths – not baths filled with ice. We throw bath bombs.”
The girl’s father, Domingo Junior Flores (pictured), is awaiting trial on charges of torture and abuse
Police had previously been called to the Anaheim home to conduct a welfare check on the 10-year-old, but did not see the girl tied to the bed in one of the bedrooms during their check.
“We frost cupcakes and have movie nights. We play in our backyard whenever we want – and sit in the warmth of the sun. We are making up for lost time. They not only survived; they were victorious.”
“She was the personification of a whisper,” the woman said when she saw her daughter’s abused body in the hospital.
“You hear all these details and it’s horrifying. You wouldn’t wish that on anyone,” said the 10-year-old’s uncle, Walter KABC.
Her aunt, identified only as Levit, said, “Everything you hear and everything she’s been through, it’s a miracle that she’s here with us today.”
Flores has a hearing scheduled for Nov. 20.