ANAHEIM, CA – A California woman has been convicted of brutally torturing her 10-year-old stepdaughter, subjecting the child to horrific abuse that required nearly 20 surgeries to address the resulting injuries.
Mayra Corina Chavez, 33, was found guilty on multiple charges, including torture, child abuse, endangerment, and causing great bodily injury, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
The shocking case came to light in August 2022 when Domingo Junior Flores brought his emaciated 10-year-old daughter, who weighed only 50 pounds at the time, to Children’s Hospital of Orange County. The child was unresponsive upon arrival, and Flores initially claimed that she had hurt herself and fallen down the stairs. However, medical professionals discovered a horrifying reality.
The girl arrived at the hospital with a broken neck, an unhealed wound with a bone protruding, and extensive bruising covering her body. Her condition shocked medical professionals, with one describing it as one of the worst cases of traumatic child abuse they had ever seen.
Authorities arrested both Flores and Chavez, the stepmother, as they arrived at the hospital.
An investigation revealed that the family’s apartment in Anaheim contained numerous zip ties, which had been used as instruments of torture. Chavez subjected the 10-year-old to unimaginable physical, mental, and emotional abuse, forcing her to endure 17 surgeries for her injuries. The abuse included making her kneel on raw rice and tin cans while zip-tied, submerging her face in ice water, and forcing her to bite into a habanero pepper that was then rubbed into her eyes and genitals.
Disturbingly, Chavez also involved the girl’s three siblings in the torture, forcing them to participate and watch. The siblings tearfully testified during the trial, recounting the horrifying events they had witnessed. Chavez’s conviction also covers abuse inflicted on another stepdaughter, her husband’s 17-year-old son, and two of her own children.
Chavez now faces a maximum sentence of seven years to life in prison for the torture conviction, in addition to up to 10 years for the two child abuse convictions and four months for the assault conviction. She is scheduled to be sentenced on November 3.
Meanwhile, Domingo Junior Flores awaits trial on charges related to the abuse.