Judge Issues Gag Order In Case Of Slain, Mentally-Disabled Teen
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LUBBOCK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - A West Texas judge has issued a gag order in the case of a pregnant, mentally disabled teen found slain with her uterus removed.
District Judge John McClendon III signed the order Wednesday in Lubbock, blocking public release of any information related to investigation. The order applies to anyone involved in the case, including law enforcement, attorneys and the medical examiner's office.
The 18-year-old's remains were found in February in her family's partially burned home in Idalou. An arrest warrant said the victim told a school worker that her stepfather impregnated her. The teenager's mother remained jailed Monday after she was arrested last week on a charge of aggravated sexual assault of a disabled person. The teenager's stepfather is being held on three counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child. No one has been charged in the death, but the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office has said more charges are coming.
The arrest warrant for the mother alleges the woman knew her husband was abusing her two daughters. The mother doesn't yet face charges related to the younger daughter, who is 15.
Neither the Associated Press nor CBS11 identifies victims of sex crimes. The AP and CBS11 isn't naming the 15-year-old girl's family members because that could reveal her identity. Online jail records did not list attorney for either the mother or her husband. A spokesman for the Lubbock County Sheriff's Office didn't return several phone calls Monday seeking comment.
According to the arrest warrant, the 18-year-old, who had the mental age of a 6 to 7 year old, told a school worker on Jan. 29 that her stepfather had impregnated her. "Mom told her not to tell anyone because Mom needed (the stepfather) to pay bills," authorities wrote in the warrant. The warrant alleges that the mother knew as early as 2008 that her husband was sexually assaulting her older daughter. The 18-year-old told a school counselor that her stepfather also abused her sister and that the sisters had talked about this and told their mother, according to the arrest warrant.
On Feb. 2, the teenager told an interviewer with the Children's Advocacy Center that her stepfather had been touching her since she was 12. After that, the girls' mother was told to have no contact with her husband, but he remained at their home, the arrest warrant said.
The mother later told investigators that her husband was "intravenously using methamphetamines inside the home over an extended period of time," the warrant said.
The 18-year-old was found dead, her throat slashed, on Feb. 10. Investigators have said that a fire was set to hide evidence.
The younger daughter told investigators on March 10 that her stepfather had abused her sexually since she was 9 years old and that he had sexually assaulted her two to five times a week for the past two to three years, according to the mother's arrest warrant. The girl also told authorities she had seen her stepfather sexually assault her older sister.
The girl told investigators that her mother had kicked her husband out of their home after catching him about to sexually assault her two years ago, but that the mother allowed her husband to return after two months.
"By providing (the husband) access to her daughters after being made aware that (he) was molesting them, (the mother) aided (her husband) in the sexual assaults of her daughters," according to the arrest warrant.
Authorities say more charges are expected.
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