SAN ANTONIO – A jury on Wednesday was shown a video from inside a man’s apartment where he allegedly physically abused and tortured a 5-year-old girl.
The video was presented by the prosecution during Day 2 of the trial of Jose Ruiz, who is charged with injury to a child in connection with the death of Mercedes Losoya in February 2022.
Mercedes was the daughter of Ruiz’s girlfriend, Katrina Mendoza, who is also charged in the case and is scheduled to testify against Ruiz as part of a plea deal.
According to Raul Hurtado of the San Antonio Police Department’s CSI Unit, the video was taken inside Ruiz’s apartment on Vance Jackson Road shortly after Mercedes’ death. Ruiz had just moved out of the apartment where the state said Mercedes was allegedly abused.
The video showed 38 pieces of evidence that the CSI team collected, including six clumps of hair, multiple thumbtacks, a used band-aid, child’s panties, cleaning supplies and latex gloves.
The clumps of hair and thumbtacks coincide with some of the injuries that an emergency room nurse and police reported finding on Mercedes’ body. They reported that the girl had small puncture wounds at the bottom of her feet and patches of hair missing.
Two SAPD detectives who interrogated Ruiz also testified on Wednesday.
Sgt. Christopher Lloyd told jurors that Ruiz’s demeanor was calm at the beginning of the interview but turned more emotional toward the end.
When asked by the prosecution about Ruiz’s body language, Lloyd said that “he was pretty open facing me. He was engaged … but pieces were missing during the interview.”
Lloyd also told jurors that Ruiz described “Mercedes as being the badder child” compared to her older sister.
Ruiz at times teared up during the audio replay of the interrogation that was played to the jury.
SAPD Detective Lawrence Saiz followed Lloyd’s testimony with his version of the interrogation he conducted of Ruiz.
Saiz said that Ruiz’s demeanor was “something we typically see where they try to divert to someone else. (He) pushed everything to Katrina. Came across as arrogant,” Saiz told jurors.
The jury also listened to an audio file of Saiz’s interrogation of Ruiz.
Ruiz is heard repeatedly during the interview saying that Mercedes “was fine” the morning before she died and that he and Mendoza “were freaking out” and didn’t know what to do when the little girl needed medical attention.
Saiz asked Ruiz if he knew what 911 was and why he didn’t ask for immediate help.
The two got into a fiery exchange when Saiz told Ruiz that the evidence didn’t support the defendant’s story.
“You beat the sh** out of that little girl. You know what you did to that little girl,” Saiz told Ruiz. “She’s missing hair from someone pulling it .... think about all the things you did.”
A couple of Ruiz’s apartment neighbors on Vance Jackson told jurors about hearing loud noises and a child crying when they lived there.
Mohanad Hasona who lived in a unit above Ruiz, told jurors that he called 911 in late November and early December 2021.
Hasona said that he’s heard children crying before but “not this way” and the “intensity and duration was very prolonged.”
He added that he heard a little girl scream “ow” continuously and heard a man yell at her continuously.
Gabriela Iturbe, who lived in a unit that shared a wall with Ruiz’s apartment, testified that she heard “screaming sounds of hitting, yelling, kids crying” and “could hear slaps or punches (that) had to be loud to be going through the wall.”
Iturbe testified that she called police three times about the noise. She said an officer came out once and talked with Ruiz and Mendoza at the door but didn’t go inside the unit. She added no officers showed up the other two times.
Mendoza has since taken a plea deal in exchange for her testimony. She will be officially sentenced after Ruiz’s trial.
If found guilty, Ruiz is facing a maximum punishment of up to life in prison.
This trial is taking place in the 187th District Court with presiding Judge Stephanie Boyd.
KSAT 12 will livestream this trial gavel to gavel. You can watch the trial on KSAT.com, KSAT Plus and KSAT’s YouTube channel.
For a full recap of the case watch: “Open Court: The Jose Ruiz Trial” below:
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5-year-old girl had bruises ‘head to toe,’ ER nurse testifies in Day 1 of child abuse trial