On February 7, 2022, 22-year-old Katrina Rose Mendoza rushed her daughter, five-year-old Mercedes Lasoya, 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 reported 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 Bexar 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 Angel 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 shovel 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 as 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 corroborated her mother’s version of events. On February 10, 2022, Katrina Mendoza and Jose Ruiz were placed under arrest and booked into the Bexar County Jail on charges of felony injury to a child resulting in great bodily harm.
“I’ll start it 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, officers 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 other was also believed to have evidence against him, and he was also charged with the same offense as the arrested person.”
Thankfully, Mercedes’ six-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-aunt, Emily Lasoya, “[She was] very sweet. She loved God. She loved going to church. She loved school. She loved her “[ __ ]”.” 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, “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.” 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 Lasoyas claimed they tried to get custody of Mercedes, but they were unsuccessful. CPS wasn’t taking any of their complaints 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, “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.” 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, “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.” On the evening of February 10th, the same day that Katrina and Jose were arrested, the Lasoya family held a candlelight vigil to pay tribute to Mercedes in hopes justice would prevail and work.
But it wasn’t just the Lasoya family’s complaints to CPS that fell on deaf ears; neighbors had been lodging complaints as well. According to neighbor Gabriel Granado, 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 Iturbe, 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 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. Gabriella shared that on one occasion, the police did send 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.”
Recently, the case of Mercedes Lasoya took a shocking turn when on August 8, 2023, 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 Bexar County District Attorney’s Office in which prosecutors agreed to cap her sentence at 45 years in exchange for 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 at an all-time high. 2021 statistics from Bexar 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.
