Exclusive: Alleged kidnap victim talks about being held captive for 10 years
ANAHEIM, Calif. (KABC) -- A woman, who claims she was kidnapped 10 years ago, forced to marry her captor and even have a child with him, spoke out exclusively to Eyewitness News Wednesday night.
"I'm so happy and God-blessed to be with my family. That's what I want all the time. All the time, I cry for them, more for my mom and my sisters," said the alleged victim, who did not want to be identified.
Now 25 years old, she says she is grateful to be back home with her family. Clutching her 3-year-old daughter, she says the last 10 years with 41-year-old Isidro Garcia have been a nightmare.
Garcia allegedly kidnapped the victim in August 2004 while he lived with her mother in Santa Ana. Garcia allegedly assaulted the girl's mother. He then abducted the teen while she was walking in Jerome Park in Santa Ana. He is suspected of drugging the teen. She woke up in a locked garage at a house in Compton. The victim's mother reported her missing and suspected Garcia of sexually abusing her daughter, but she had no evidence.
"I was 15. I couldn't do anything," the victim said, adding that she just did what he wanted her to do.
She says Garcia beat her the times she tried to escape his control. She says she was too afraid to ask for help from friends in the couple's Bell Gardens neighborhood. She says all her neighbors thought that her husband was a great man because he was hard-working.
"He worked hard for me and my daughter and he bought everything I want, but I need love of my family -- not things," she said.
For her mother, who never gave up hope all these years, the reunion was a dream come true.
"I'm happy. God is everything," the mother said.
The entire family says Garcia must pay for his crimes. They say he stole a childhood from a young girl who was brainwashed to believe her family didn't want her.
"I was very afraid about everything, because I was alone. I (thought) I was alone, but I never was. My family was with me," the victim said.
She says her daughter is the only blessing in the entire nightmare. She says she finally had courage to go to the police because she feared that her daughter was also in danger.
Garcia was arrested and is expected to be charged with rape, kidnapping and false imprisonment.
