An Auburn woman accused of torturing a housemate and his daughter for more than a year has been charged with felony assault.
Filing charges, King County prosecutors contend Maria Gonzales-Esquivel’s attacks sent the man to the hospital at least a half-dozen times while alleging that she may also have attacked the man’s young children.
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Questioned by investigators, though, the man apparently said he believes his ex-wife – not Gonzales-Esquivel – was to blame for the abuse. She, he contended, had “possessed†Gonzales-Esquivel, who was providing food and shelter to him and his family.
“For more than two years, the defendant has been brutally assaulting the victims … forcing them to assault each other, and controlling every aspect of their lives,†Deputy Prosecutor Miyamasu told the court.
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King County Sheriff’s Office investigators began looking into the case in November, when Gonzales-Esquivel called the police to report that the man had been dropped off at her Auburn-area home after he was robbed and assaulted by a homeless man.
The injured man was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, where he’d been treated two months before for another assault. His face was too swollen for him to speak with police; he also suffered wounds to his legs, a fractured rib and a “macerated†penis.
Speaking with investigators, a nurse there said the man had been assaulted at least three times in the preceding year, King County Detective Robin Cleary told the court. The nurse also told investigators the man suspected his ex-wife was behind the attacks on him.
In January, King County deputies again went to Gonzales-Esquivel’s home after a school counselor reported that a young woman – the injured man’s daughter – had come by the school with obvious facial injuries.
According to charging documents, the young woman then told police Gonzales-Esquivel had come to her home with two men in an effort to take her siblings. Gonzales-Esquivel’s children, they were in the custody of their father.
As the investigation continued, the man was admitted to Harborview again in March after suffering a ruptured eyeball and broken nose. He returned in mid July after sustaining a serious head injury; according to charging documents, Gonzales-Esquivel told investigators the man had simply hit his head.
Investigators contacted the man’s ex-wife in later that month. Writing the court Cleary said the woman denied having anything to do with the attacks on her ex but allowed that they had been in a custody dispute.
Until recently, neither the man nor his daughter were willing to implicate Gonzales-Esquivel, despite multiple contacts by investigators.
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It wasn’t until late last month, Cleary continued, that the man’s daughter came forward and offered to tell the truth about what was happening in the Auburn home.
Speaking with investigators, the young woman said Gonzales-Esquivel had been assaulting her father and had attacked her.
According to charging documents, the young woman said she had been sent to live with Gonzales-Esquivel in 2006. She then dropped out of school and went to work for Gonzales-Esquivel as her “personal assistant.â€
Her father and mother moved into the home in 2009 after they were evicted from their own home. The attacks intensified, she told investigators, after her mother moved out.
Writing the court, Cleary said the young woman described Gonzales-Esquivel as becoming increasingly controlling.
Gonzales-Esquivel often beat her with kitchen equipment, the young woman told investigators, and had her sleep on the floor of her bedroom in an effort to isolate her from the rest of the family.
“She said Esquivel controlled what she ate, when she ate and when she could bathe herself,†the detective told the court. “Esquivel did not allow her to attend school and limited her computer usage.â€
The young woman also said Gonzales-Esquivel was responsible for all of her father’s injuries, and that she claimed she was “possessed†by the man’s ex-wife, Cleary continued.
Asked why she would come forward now after lying to police repeatedly, the young woman said she saw her disabled younger brother limping more than usual and is afraid for her siblings, according to charging documents.
Investigators searched the home on Aug. 25 and arrested Gonzales-Esquivel. They also took the man to the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center for questioning; according to charging documents, he said everything his daughter told detectives was true.
“He said Esquivel is a good person but believes she is possessed by his ex-wife and that’s who does the bad things,†Cleary told the court.
The man went on to allege almost ritualistic abuse by Gonzales-Esquivel.
Left partially blind in one eye due to one attack, the man said Gonzales-Esquivel forced him to hold out his hands so she could smash his fingers with a rolling pin, according to charging documents. His fingers were broken and scarred.
On one occasion, he said Gonzales-Esquivel repeatedly whipped his genitals for several hours claiming doing so would rid him of an infection, the detective told the court. She is also alleged to had beaten him with a rubber mallet so badly that one of his ribs broke and punctured his lungs, and forced him to eat 20 habanera peppers.
“(He) said he didn’t tell the truth before because Esquivel is a good person; it’s just that she is possessed,†Cleary told the court. “He said that she provides him and his children with a home, food and she pays the bills. … He felt it was better than everyone being homeless and he didn’t want to return to his ex-wife.â€
He said he took many of the beatings, Cleary continued, so that his children wouldn’t endure them.
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