The Misery Machine - The Case of Mercedes Losoya

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

This week, Drewby and Yergy head down south to San Antonio, Texas, to discuss the case of Mercedes Losoya, a 5-year-old little girl who died at the hands of her mother's boyfriend, Jose Angel Ruiz. The little girl was subjected to horrendous torture during her short life, which included being gagged with a urine-soaked sock, having dog feces shoved into her mouth, and having her teeth ripped out. Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://lawandcrime.com/crime/after-tortured-5-year-old-died-mom-told-cops-her-boyfriend-shoved-dog-feces-and-a-urine-soaked-sock-in-victims-mouth-police/ https://www.thedailybeast.com/katrina-mendozas-boyfriend-shoved-urine-soaked-sock-in-5-year-olds-mouth-beat-her-unconscious-cops-say https://www.kens5.com/article/news/crime/5-year-old-dies-after-extreme-abuse-and-torture-mother-and-boyfriend-arrested-san-antonio/273-a5a2246c-8902-4269-883c-5ddce980b076 https://www.wlbt.com/2022/02/11/texas-mother-boyfriend-arrested-5-year-old-girls-death/?outputType=apps https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/neighbors-of-mercedes-losoya-say-they-called-police-repeatedly-about-violence-concerns https://lawandcrime.com/crime/mom-admits-to-extreme-abuse-and-torture-that-killed-5-year-old-who-was-allegedly-forced-to-eat-dog-feces-and-had-urine-soaked-sock-stuffed-in-her-mouth/ https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2023/08/08/san-antonio-mom-accepts-plea-deal-in-death-of-her-5-year-old-daughter/ https://www.facebook.com/katrina.mendoza.5602 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100061970064112 https://nypost.com/2022/02/11/mercedes-losoya-was-forced-to-put-feces-in-her-mouth-cops-say

On February 7, 2022, 22-year-old Katrina Rose Mendoza rushed her daughter, 5-year-old Mercedes-Lesoya, to Southwest General Hospital in San Antonio, Texas for treatment. The little girl was unresponsive and doctors attempted to resuscitate her. Sadly, it was too late. Mercedes was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. According to the medical team that had attempted to save her life, Mercedes had sustained visible injuries that they deemed to be suspicious in nature. Per their protocol, they notified the authorities, and officers with the San Antonio Police

Department responded to the scene. What they discovered was shocking. This little girl hadn't died from some sort of accident. It was much worse. Mercedes had visible sections of hair missing that appeared to have been torn from her head. She also had extensive bruises, scratches, cuts, and swelling on every visible portion of her body. This included wounds on both of her hands that appeared to be defensive in nature. Her legs and feet were also battered, and she was reportedly missing several toenails.

When the officers took a closer look at Mercedes wounds, they noticed something strange. Some of her bruises appeared to be patterned, which is commonly seen when belts or other objects are used to inflict injury. During her official autopsy, the Bear County Medical Examiner's Office noted it was obvious that Mercedes suffered extreme abuse and torture. The five-year-old's injuries were so numerous the medical examiner reportedly said that there was no clear or obvious injury that caused the victim's death, and that further investigation would be required to make a conclusion as to the cause and manner of her death.

As Mercedes clearly hadn't inflicted these injuries on herself, police zeroed in on the most likely suspects. Her mother, Katrina Mendoza, and her boyfriend, 25-year-old Jose Anheel Ruiz. In an interview with investigators, Katrina claimed that she, Mercedes, and her six-year-old daughter had recently moved in with Jose. During the time that they'd been staying with him, her boyfriend had subjected Mercedes to horrific acts of torture and abuse. Allegedly, Katrina had asked Jose for assistance

in disciplining her daughter, but what he did wasn't discipline. It was the stuff of nightmares. Now, according to Katrina, she witnessed Jose shoveled dog feces into her daughter's mouth as he screamed at her and did the same thing with a sock soaked in urine. She further told police that Jose pulled the sock

from Mercedes' mouth so aggressively that he ripped out two of her teeth. But this wasn't all. Jose punched the little girl with closed fists while wearing multiple rings. Sometimes he beat her with a belt. She was also forced to stand in place while holding heavy objects weeks before her death.

Allegedly, this act of torture was captured on a video call, and according to Katrina, Mercedes was in tears. When it came time to interview Jose, he tried to pin the whole thing on Katrina. He claimed that he smacked Mercedes on the butt from time to time and made her stand in the corner, but hadn't done any of the acts that his girlfriend had accused him of. He even went as far to blame Mercedes' six-year-old sister for ripping out the portions of her hair that were missing. In their notes, police wrote that

Jose appeared to be deflecting responsibility for his actions onto Katrina and the victim's sister. However, Mercedes' sister cooperated her mother's version of events. On February 10, 2022, Katrina Mendoza and Jose Ruiz were placed under arrest and booked into the Bear County Gym on charges of felony injury to a child, resulting in great bodily harm. This all started back on February 7th of this year. Our arrested person took her five-year-old female daughter to a local hospital because she was being unresponsive. That five-year-old victim was later pronounced deceased at that local hospital with visible injuries.

At that time, monsters were notified, made location and began their investigation. Homicide detectives were notified where they worked tirelessly on this investigation and found evidence to charge the arrested person with one count of injury to a child's serious bodily injury. The arrested person's significant elder was also believed to have evidence against him, and he was also charged with the same offense as the arrested person. Thankfully, Mercedes 6-year-old sister was removed from the home and placed in the custody of child protective services. It is unclear if she suffered any of the horrors that were inflicted upon her younger sister. In the wake of Mercedes death, her paternal family,

members came forward to discuss the little girl who was known for having a big loving heart. According to her great-a-a-lawed-quote, very sweet, she loved God, she loved going to church, she loved school, she loved her sissy, end quote. Family members claim that child protective services contacted them on Wednesday, February 9th to let them know tragedy had struck. According to her aunt Emily, quote, it's sad to say, but we automatically knew it was something with Mercedes.

her mother had a lot of anger towards Mercedes. I don't know why, but she favored the sister, and I saw that right off the bat, end quote. Allegedly, Katrina once told Emily that Mercedes hadn't had a bottle in two or three days. This occurred when the little girl was just weeks old. According to Emily, Katrina allegedly told her that she didn't have a bond with Mercedes, that she couldn't bond with her. Allegedly, for as long as the LaSoya family could recall, they always noticed injuries on Mercedes.

According to her grandmother, Vanessa LaSoya, Mercedes once got a haircut with bangs to cover the bruising on her forehead. She said the mistreatment began just weeks after the little girl was born. Of her injuries, the grandmother noted the bruises were on her face, her arms, and pretty much everywhere. The Lassoias claimed they tried to get custody of Mercedes, but they were unsuccessful. CPS wasn't taking any of their complaint seriously, despite the overwhelming evidence that Mercedes was in harm's way.

Allegedly, her biological father had last seen his little girls in October of 2021. Since then, Katrina wouldn't allow him to see them. According to grandmother, Vanessa, her son had no part in what happened to her granddaughter. She went on to share, quote, Katrina called me and explained to me what happened, and she said, please forgive me, Vanessa, I'm sorry. I told her, I'm not the one you need to ask for forgiveness. You need to get on your knees and you need to ask God to forgive you because I can't do it.

She had other relationships prior to this, and they would only abuse Mercedes, end quote. According to Mercedes adult cousin Crystal Trinidad, when we found out we were like, who in their right mind could do that to a child? As a mother, you fight for your kids, you protect them. She failed her, just like CPS failed her. Saddened by the sudden and untimely loss of her niece,

Emily shared the following thoughts, she said, quote, Because I couldn't help her, because her father couldn't help her, we all couldn't help her. Heaven is a better place for her than where she lived in the five years, she was here on earth, end quote. On the evening of February 10th, the same day that Katrina and Jose were arrested, the Lassoya family

held a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to Mercedes and hopes justice would prevail in court. But it wasn't just the Lissoya family's complaints to CPS that fell in deaf years. Neighbors had been lodging complaints as well. According to neighbor Gabriel Granato, who shared a wall with Katrina and Jose at the Henry B apartments on Vance Jackson Road

in San Antonio, his first report was in November of 2021, just after Thanksgiving. He said, we've been hearing beating, sounds like a fist hitting the hand. For the past two weeks, I would say 50 hits like that. We did what we could. I lost faith. His girlfriend, Gabriella I Terbe, claimed that she called the police several times. The final time was Saturday, February 5th, just two days before little Mercedes died in the

emergency room of Southwest General Hospital. According to Gabriella, she knew something was a little bit of. different this time. She says she witnessed a previous incident where Katrina was abusive to Mercedes in the apartment parking lot. Allegedly, Katrina kicked her daughter and this wasn't the first time she had done it. However, repeated calls to the San Antonio Police Department never resulted in Mercedes removal from the home. Gabriela shared that on one occasion, the police did said somebody over to the apartment, but Katrina and Jose wouldn't allow them inside. She said it's really upsetting knowing that you tried and you couldn't do anything to change it.

the case of Mercedes-Lossoa took a shocking turn when on August 8, 23, Katrina Rose Mendoza took a plea deal. Now 23 years old, the disgraced mother pled guilty to one count of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission, a first-degree felony. Based on the charge, Katrina would have been facing a maximum possible sentence of life in prison, but she and her defense attorney reached a deal with the Bear County District Attorney's Office in which prosecutors agreed to cap her sentence at 45. years in exchange for her admission of guilt. 187th District Judge Stephanie Boyd announced that she would hold off on formally sentencing Katrina until after Jose's trial is completed. As of the date of this recording, Jose Ruiz has pled not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in October of 2023. As this case is ongoing and things appear to be moving fairly quickly, we'll be sure to keep an eye out for updates as

they become available. Apparently in Texas, a little girl can endure such unimaginable torture, die in the process, and the monsters that took her life aren't even charged with homicide. Apparently, crimes against children in the lone star state are an all-time high. 2021 statistics from Bear County alone showed 5,641 victims of CA, and this number only increased for the third straight year. So, what do you think? Should Katrina and Jose have been charged with homicide? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section down below.