Elvis did you not read the article? It states that the stepfather instructed the girl to beat her brother for not complying with his punishment. This was parent-ordered pummeling, and the mother obviously either agreed with it, or chose to look the other way.
I don’t see how anyone can blame the girl. Yes, she shoudl not have been beating on her little brother, but being raised by a pair of complete troglodites, how could she be expected to know better? I’m sure if she didn’t comply, the same fate could have befell her at the hands of her stepfather.
I used to live in Las Cruces several years ago. It’s the kind of place where wierd, cruel crimes like this happen all the time. Sure, people are friendly on the surface, and you can leave the door unlocked at night, but across town, someone will be dropping stray pets into fighting rings with pit bulls, or beating the crap out of their kid for saying something that the father misinterprets as something “gay.” Animal cruelty in Cruces seems about as common as speeding infractions.
Lost Causes, Las Cucarachas, Las Curses, the Vortex. At least Cruces resembles a first world city. Could be worse … it could be closer to El Paso than it already is.
I visited the Las Cruces Sun-News Web site a while ago, to get more details. The incident took place in the Telshor Hills neighborhood, a middle to upper-middle class area.
Real property information is online. Apparently, Natasha Boothe Guerrero (the mother) bought the house last year, and shortly afterwards married this Louie guy who ordered the daughter to beat up the son.
The Las Cruces Sun-News writes: “According to jail records, Louie Guerrero has seven alias, four Social Security numbers and four birth dates. His occupation is listed as a “self-employed makeup artist.”” Nice guy.
I’m very good friends with a Las Cruces judge. She’s got two beautiful kids. If she gets the case, and they are indeed guilty, these folks will be put away for a long, long time.
<hijack>elmwood I’m living in Las Cruces right now, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees the town this way. More screwed up stuff has happend here in the 15 months I’ve lived here than in the 5 years I spent in Corvallis, OR (a similarly sized town). It’s really sad, but I’ve seen a distinct lack of social conscience here. The other day, a girl hit a pedestrian on campus, then leaned against her car and acted completely unemotional while other pedestrians called 911 and assisted the injured girl. The driver didn’t see why the police needed to see her driver’s license.</hijack>