Curiel Trial: Tortured Salinas girl says she thought she was going to die

UPDATE: 4/19/2018 11:27 a.m. A 12-year-old girl testified Thursday about how she was tortured and her siblings were killed, during the double murder trial of Gonzalo Curiel.

We are not identifying the victim only referring to her as “Jane Doe.”

Jane Doe told the courtroom she thought she was going to die at the age of 9. She and her two younger siblings, 7-year-old Shaun and 3-year-old Delylah Tara were in the care of her aunt Tami Huntsman and her boyfriend Gonzalo Curiel back in 2015.

Doe said although she and her siblings were under her aunts care, when Curiel moved in to their apartment he acted as though he was in charge and that’s when the abuse began.

Doe explained to the court that she tried to run away multiple times.

She and her two younger siblings were stripped of their clothes because they would have accidents. They would have accidents because they were afraid to ask to use the bathroom, Doe explained.

When she and her siblings would get in trouble they would be sprayed with cold water and locked in an open window bathroom.

Doe said if she and her siblings moved from their corner they would get hit. Curiel would kick, punch and sometimes hit them with the showerhead.

On Thanksgiving of 2015 Doe told the courtroom she remembers Shaun and Delylah couldn’t walk or talk. While pretending to be asleep she saw Huntsman and Curiel take the kids away. Little did she know it would be the last time she saw her siblings.

Shaun and Delylah’s bodies were found in a Redding storage facility.

Thursday afternoon, forensic pathologist Dr. Mark Super said both children died from blunt impact injuries and extreme malnutrition.

KION’s Mariana Hicks has the full story at 5 & 6 p.m.

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The second week of testimony in the murder trial for Gonzalo Curiel is underway.

Curiel is the Salinas man accused of abusing three children, and killing two of them.

On Monday, we heard from police and emergency room staff who cared for the surviving victim. She was rescued from a car in Plumas County in the Sierra Nevada of California.

Most of the witnesses, including the Child Protective Services workers who initially responded to the call and emergency room staff who tended to the little girl, had ties to Plumas County.

A Plumas County Sheriff’s Office deputy took the stand and talked about responding to the apartment where defendant Gonzalo Curiel and co-conspirator Tami Huntsman were moving in.

He and two CPS agents went to the apartment. He asked about the 9-year-old victim, and was led to Huntsman’s car. There, he found the little girl in the back seat on the floorboard, using clothes as blankets to keep warm.

He said he spoke to her and noted her injuries. Her shoulder was dislocated, and she had black eyes and other bruises on her body. In an audio recording played in court, she was afraid to reveal who had hurt her, but later named both Curiel and Huntsman.

During the initial questioning, Huntsman told the deputy that the bruises were from the victim throwing herself on the ground, seeking attention. Curiel told the deputy he had punched her twice. The deputy later arrested both Curiel and Huntsman.

The emergency room doctor who cared for the 9-year-old victim, who is being referred to as Jane Doe, read a list of her injuries which include swelling at the top of her head and injuries to her jaw and shoulder.

CPS workers testified that she told them she had to eat slowly because she had injuries to her mouth.

A former homicide sergeant who now works in tracking cellphone data took the stand and looked at movements on a cellphone between the middle of October until Curiel’s arrest in December.

Outside of court, KION learned that Curiel was involved in a jailhouse fight last week. He was being held in a special unit with about 20 to 30 other inmates. Something happened last week between him and other inmates. Jail officials said he suffered some bumps and bruises and has since been moved to a single cell for his safety and the safety of the other inmates.