No One Heard Mercedes Losoya’s Silent Cries—Until It Was Too Late
she was innocent she couldn’t defend herself she was 5 years old what could Mercedes do nothing how can she allow for this man to come and abuse her daughter he would them um he would uh pull Mercedes hair and cover her mouth and nose use dumb tacks on her feet literally from head to toe there was trauma front and back lots of Tears shed over this case it was a very hard um
process the story is what many will never forget the last three weeks of life for 5-year-old Mercedes losoya in 2022 were something no person should have to go through more or less a child the extreme physical abuse at the hands of mercedes’s mother Katrina mosa and her boyfriend Jose Ruiz once roose’s case went to trial more unimaginable details revealed we do want to warn you in this case are details that are disturbing and hard to hear 5-year-old Mercedes looa and her older sister Jordan were the best of
friends family described them as Inseparable and they love to get dressed up and be around family she was very friendly very playful she always wanted to be around her cousins her to see she just was very very caring Emily Lya recalls the love she had for her nieces and the joy Mercedes was to have around Bine Martinez has many memories of her granddaughter she would tell me JMA I said yes I love you with all my heart and then she would blink her eye she’ll go like that she would blink her eye I love you too Mercedes Mercedes and
her sister Liv with their mother Katrina mendosa Katrina a young mom had the girls in her teens and had many struggles herself growing up Katrina’s own mother had been arrested and charg with beating her brother Katrina lived off and on with other relatives or her godparents when she met Lorraine’s son the two at first were happy but the relationship ended badly Lorraine and Emily kept in touch with Katrina to make sure they could still see the girls and were also there if she needed a place to stay or to help in any way many times I
had told Katrina you’re always going to be welcome here at my house one thing they did eventually noticed was how Katrina treated the girls differently and always favored her oldest Jordan over Mercedes she would just show Jordan like I missed you I love you mommy mommy’s going to pick you up later and Mercedes would just be like what about me in November 2021 they noticed a difference in Mercedes around the same time Katrina started dating a man by the name of Jose Ruiz Ru mosa met at a strip club she was working in at the time the
week of thanks giving the girls were staying with Lorraine when abruptly Katrina and Jose came to pick them up and I told I in quiet outside Katrina let me have the girls let them stay here tomorrow’s dance not because of the honor of my mom I need to take the girls and never saw Mercedes again on February 7th 2022 Katrina mosa ran into a Southside San Antonio Hospital with an unconscious Mercedes staff immediately took her and began working on her but it was too late she was pronounced dead minutes later what
happened to Mercedes how did a 5-year-old girl who was so L end up dead but it wasn’t hard for medical staff and investigators to see that Mercedes had suffered Days Later Katrina mendosa and Jose Riz were arrested and charged with injury to a child the arrest affidavit revealed shocking details the detective on the case said quote visible bruises scratches cuts and swelling on almost every visible part of her body and that she suffered extreme physical abuse and torture for several weeks it would be 2 days after mercedes’s death that
Lorraine and Emily were told what happened she was innocent she couldn’t defend herself she was 5 years old what could Mercedes do nothing how can she allow for this man to come and abuse her daughter they knew something was wrong when they couldn’t find the girls or Katrina Emily admitting to calling Child Protective Services multiple times after Katrina took the girls she already had a case open why didn’t they do their job the case was now in the hands of former barar County prosecutor Marissa giovenco this was a very hard case for me to see
the first time um and the second time and every time um but the first time was the hardest um lots of Tears shed over this case it was a very hard um process Marissa would get the case indicted fairly quickly they were each facing 13 counts along with Marissa later Britney Mitchell was assigned the case as well as Alexandra Jackson it was very clear he was not going to take anything um so we kind of were in that trial mode pretty early on with him with Jose it’s always about him he’s always is the victim but as for
Katrina she took responsibility and she wanted to testify against Jose and wanted a plea deal so the women got ready for trial and more than two years after Mercedes died a trial would take place for Ruiz and while those involved in the case knew the specifics nobody else was prepared for just how this case would go in the awful images that would be shown day one of trial Marissa delivered opening arguments laying out the case to the jury in this case you’re going to have to see things that nobody should ever have to
see let alone things that a child at the age of five should have to endure she went on to detail how mercedes’s Sister Jordan had a front row C to everything that happened Katrina and the girls a day before Mercedes died had moved out of Jose’s apartment and were living with a friend but in the same complex Jordan said that day that her mother was mer uh Jordan’s word jamming food down Mercedes mouth Mercedes kept spitting it up she was being gorged kept spitting it up Katrina got mad according to Jordan’s statement I wasn’t there and she said
she sh jammed the spoon down her throat at that point Mercedes who had been on a chair fell off the chair according to Jordan Katrina took Mercedes to Jose who tried to give her CPR and then they went to the hospital the first witness to be called up was the ER nurse who tried to help Mercedes she had uh mashed bananas in her mouth which we had to to um take out I placed her in room 12 directly behind them child was pulseless CPR begun immediately several rounds of high quality CPR and BVM assisted ventilations were given patient never
regained Ros which is uh return of spontaneous circulation when we get a pulse back and the code was called meaning time of death was called uh Dr MD Dr Newton called time of death at 1918 when he got a closer look at Mercedes he noticed injuries all over child was noticed to have generalized bruising over body posteriorly and anteriorly along with scratches missing missing areas of hair on head wounds to her feet and toenails missing on two toes of the left foot and generalized bruising was noticed on patients’s body
bruising in different stages of healing there were newer bruises on her I don’t recall exactly where but there were some that were darker than others literally from head to toe there was trauma front and back as sapd and Child Protective Services were then called former sapd officer Ryan Cahill was the first to the hospital and he described what he saw she was covered from head to toe her whole body in bruises significant bruising he spoke to Katrina at the hospital who was visibly agitated he said Katrina called Jose and was
yelling at him through the phone officers then found Jose in the hospital parking lot in his car they approached him and asked him what happened I don’t know she was fine after that all pass she was fine and then out of nowhere she’s laying on her side and she’s just throwing up constantly right and based on your training and experience was what he told you consistent with Mercedes condition and how you saw her no it was not police became concerned about the whereabouts of mercedes’s Sister Jordan and her condition when she was found she
Not only was well but had no signs of physical abuse former CPS invest Ator Julie rumel told the jury that she was the one to have to tell Jordan her sister had passed she came and gave me a big hug and you know mentioned something that her was no longer in pain and walk in the golden streets Jordan would be the one to paint the picture to investigators just how bad it was for Mercedes her man um started putting D CS in her feet she was in exposed okay and then she peed on herself and then J said make the pee and
then keep making it and sleep in and then H started putting Thum last time H hit my sister’s mouth and SLA her and these two teeth came out CPS revealed on the stand that a month before Mercedes died they had stopped by after a call was made to check on the girls they said at the time they didn’t believe anything was wrong on day two of the trial video from inside Jose’s apartment was shown thumbtacks were on the ground and wall cleaning supplies were out clumps of hair in several locations audio ruiz’s interview with police was then played he
denied doing anything wrong at first and the only discipline was making them stand in the corner the lead detective on the case Lawrence Sign said Ruiz then talked about his own abusive childhood now his mom remarried after his father was sent to prison for raping a child he described his stepfather making him hold up weights for long periods of time he then described his relationship with Katrina and the girls and how Jordan was favored Mercedes good when the detectives question injuries on Mercedes you know
when I saw when I first saw Mercedes in that thought somebody some some devil has been abusing torturing this little girl you can explain to me how this got so out of hand so out of control that was not my fault what would you do to discipline Mercedes there’s more than what you just told me tell me some of tell me you okay what else would you do missing was her little sister later 911 calls were heard neighbors who lived around R’s apartment had been calling police for 2 months reporting hearing a child crying in pain the neighbor St I
think they severely beating their kid up sapd only went by once but didn’t go inside the apartment day three of the trial would be by far the most disturbing Not only would Katrina mosa finally take the stand but it was revealed that Jose had recorded videos and taken photos on his phone of the abuse being done to Mercedes Midway through the trial the case was getting emotionally taxing for those involved as well as for the jury but for prosecutors they knew Katrina’s testimony along with photos and video of
Mercedes will be all they needed to convict Jose Katrina was called to the stand when she was asked about the day Mercedes died she couldn’t remember and even laughed about about mixing up the days there you go February 7th sorry she talked about her relationship with her daughters did you favor Jordan over Mercedes yes why is that because she was my first born she went on to say she had trouble bonding with Mercedes and then she described a day she called Jose saying she was having trouble with Mercedes and that Jose picked her up so
he could discipline her photos from Jose’s phone were then shown one photo Mercedes with bruising all over her face with a swollen mouth and teeth missing another of her standing with patches of missing hair and a photo of her feet a screenshot from The Ring camera in the closet you could see her little feet trying to stand on multiple thumbtacks and a gas from jurors and those in the courtroom of mercedes’s face smeared with the feces of doose’s dogs a video was in plain that Rice had recorded it was from the night he picked up Mercedes
you see her in the backseat of his car holding a heavy jug over her head crying and telling him it was too heavy heavy no it’s not it’s not even heavy at all nothing pick it up it’s full yeah I know it is full pick it up pick it up family walked out as the video was played jur could be seen grabbing tissues and crying the prosecutors deciding it was enough and not showing other photos and videos on his phone it’s bad enough to see everything they had to see we didn’t want to make them see it multiple times Katrina herself
describing the abuse she allowed to happen he would pull her hair he would her with the belt he would use the metal part of the belt um he would hold her breath by covering her mouth and her nose he would pull her hair out he would um he would um not let her eat certain foods or have a certain drink um he would keep her standing up for hours at a time uh he would sleep deprive her she even described an instance where Jose had wrapped a pole around mercedes’s arms and made her stand for hour hours in a crucifixion pose Katrina ending her
testimony saying she knew she had done wrong I should have made better choices the next day the medical examiner ruled that Mercedes had fractures on her spine from overextension which matched up to being tied up to a pole for long periods of time internally mercedes’s kidneys were failing and her death was caused by rabdom miysis which is the breakdown of Muses from trauma and exertion on day five this date rest rested and after a couple of recall Witnesses for the defense they rested as well in closing the defense put all the blame on Katrina
saying she was the abuser and the proof was in all the records CPS had against her but Britney had a strong closing we don’t know everything but we know that he hit that little girl again and again and that little girl cried out for help and unfortunately she didn’t get that help but we’re not here CPS is not on trial police are not on trial Jose Ruiz is on trial him and Katrina worked together in making that little girl’s life hell the last two weeks and we ask just like defense said let’s vindicate her please find Jose Ruiz guilty of all
counts in less than an hour the jury came back and did just that defendant will please rise it states count one we the jury find the defendant Ruiz guilty of the offense of injury to a child later that same jury deliberated for about 30 minutes and then sentenced him to life in prison a relief for family and the prosecutors for me personally I’ll say that there’s been other cases that were horrendous but to me this was the worst and that is why it really meant a lot for me a few weeks later krino was given the maximum sentence per the plea deal
45 years in prison she broke down and cried as the girl’s great-grandmother read statements that had been made by mercedes’s Sister Jordan I wonder why my mommy allowed this to happen to my sister grandma I cannot sleep at night because I see my being tortured not using that word at being Hur being hit Grandma I don’t understand why we didn’t leave Jose said Grandma I am so afraid that my mom will come one day and take me back to Jose’s house Grandma I love my mommy but I’m afraid I’m afraid that one day she will
come and something might happen to me like my grandma please grandma don’t let them take me away I want to stay with you Grandma I do love my mommy and I do pray for her and she does Katrina Grandma I have been told in school or I have been told by other children is your mama a killer and she killed my how has it impacted Jordan This is H and it will affect her for the list of because you are a mother life after the trial for Lorraine and Emily hasn’t been easy they still wonder what if and if they could have done more
and her home Lorraine has an area that is full of photos of the girls and there sits mercedes’s ashes and I would never forgive him or her ever and I hope they really pay what they did to Mercedes will there ever be Justice for Mercedes no I don’t think so I mean they get to live in prison and she doesn’t get to be here with us or to live her life as for mercedes’s memory she will always forever be remembered I will always remember Mercedes always she was a fighter Mercedes Mercedes was a fighter and if she is anything like
Jordan she would have been amazing she might not be here with us but in my heart she’s always going to be in my heart a smile we will never forget it thanks for joining us for more on this episode and other past Texas crime stories just head to our website kat.com or our streaming platform Kad Plus for
