Anaheim woman convicted for subjecting 10-year-old stepdaughter to 'systematic and diabolical torture' that left hospital staff in tears

Mayra Corina Chavez, 33, of Anaheim, California, routinely subjected her 10-year-old stepdaughter to nightmarish and debilitating tortures while also abusing the other children in her care. She was convicted Wednesday and could possibly face life in prison.

After deliberating for five hours, an Orange County Superior Court jury found Mayra Corina Chavez guilty of one count of torture related to the 10-year-old, two counts of felony child abuse concerning two other little girls, and a lesser charge of misdemeanor simple assault related to a teen boy, reported the Orange County Register.

The torture the 10-year-old withstood was so monstrous as to make officials and hospital staff cry.

The school closures that California teachers' unions insisted on during the pandemic evidently did far more than adversely impact students' mental health and academics. Deputy District Attorney Bethel Cope-Vega told the jury that the closures enabled Chavez to fully exercise her "diabolic creativity," as it was easier to hide from the outside world how she "systematically dehumanized" her victim.

"She found ways to up the ante," said Cope-Vega. "She sat around thinking about new ways to torture."

Testimony during the trial spoke of the girl being forced to kneel on raw rice and tin cans while holding weights over her head. When it came time to eat, she was only permitted to eat oatmeal by herself while facing a wall, reported the Register.

Prosecutors indicated that Chavez jammed hot peppers into the little girl's eyes and vagina; paddled the little girl's genitals; forced her to take ice baths while bound; zip-tied her to a bed and on other occasions zip-tied her to a TV stand without a blanket.

The three other children in the home wept as they testified in court to their mother's cruelty, noting they were forced to take part in the little girl's binding and abuse.

"They will forever carry with them the look in their sister's eyes," said Cope-Vega.

Chavez's husband, Domingo Junior Flores, was apparently in a custody battle with the 10-year-old girl's biological mother, which prosecutors suggested may have been what made the child a special target for her stepmother's abuse.

Patch reported that Flores' ex-wife filed 35 custody violation reports against him and was ultimately granted a restraining order against Chavez.

Flores is himself awaiting trial on one felony count of torture, two felony counts of child abuse and endangerment, one misdemeanor count of felony child abuse, and one felony enhancement of causing great bodily injury.

In August 2022, Flores brought the girl to Children's Hospital of Orange County, claiming she had fallen down some stairs.

The little girl reportedly came in weighing 50 pounds, experiencing heart failure, and suffering from sepsis. She also had a broken neck and a bone going out through an unhealed sore.

Cope-Vega told the jury that what hospital staff were confronted with "was not a child, this was a crime scene," adding she was "literally covered with injuries from head to toe."

According to the district attorney's office, an emergency room nurse told police it was the worst case of trauma and child abuse she had ever seen.

While emergency room staff struggled to keep the girl alive, the Anaheim Police Department arrested Chavez and Flores.

The victim, noted to be a "sweet and loving" girl "starved for affection," had to undergo 17 surgeries and was unable to walk for nine months.

Alternate defender Tom Nocella, Chavez's attorney, suggested his sadistic client simply "thought this was what discipline was," citing a supposedly abusive childhood.

The jury evidently didn't buy whatever it was Nocella was selling.

"The details of unimaginable pain and suffering this little girl endured at the hands of her stepmother has brought the most experienced prosecutors, police officers, and hospital staff to tears," Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.

"But this systematic and diabolical torture of child was normalized in her household. Hogtying her with zip ties and forcing her to kneel on tin cans for so long her chin had pressure wounds was as routine as reminding the other children to brush their teeth. She physically, mentally, and emotionally abused and humiliated this child for months, and when that was not enough, she forced her other children to participate in the torture, forcing them to zip tie their sister to her bed frame and to ignore her cries for help," added Spitzer.

Chavez is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 3. She faces a maximum sentence of seven years to life plus 10 years and four months in state prison.

Mayra Chavez of Anaheim is not the only monster in California by that name who has gone to prison in recent years for torturing children.

Mayra Chavez of Oxnard was convicted in 2018 for the torture and murder of her 3-year-old daughter. After murdering her child, Chavez of Oxnard and her husband, Omar Lopez, drove to Mexico and destroyed the baby girl's remains, reported the VC Star.

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