Woman Held Captive for Decade: He Gave Me 5 Pills

Isidro Garcia used fake documents to marry teen
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 22, 2014 4:32 AM CDT
Cops: Kidnapper Created New Identity for Calif. Victim
This photo released by the Santa Ana Police Department shows suspect Isidro Garcia, age 41, of Bell Gardens, Calif.    (AP Photo/Santa Ana Police Department)

The California man accused of kidnapping his girlfriend's teenage daughter and keeping her captive for a decade brainwashed her into enduring a life of abuse and even gave her a new identity, investigators say. Police say Isidro Garcia got fake documents from Mexico giving the girl a new name and date of birth before he forced her to marry him in 2007, the BBC reports. She was severely beaten after two attempts to escape and as years went by, "the victim saw no way out of her situation and lived a life with Garcia under sustained physical and mental abuse," police say. The woman, now 25, had a child with Garcia in 2012. She finally went to police and reported she was a victim of abuse after contacting her sister on Facebook and reflecting on her own child's situation, investigators say. More:

  • The AP has more on how the woman says Garcia captured her: After he and her mother had an argument in August 2004, the then-teen went to a park. Garcia followed her, and she complained to him of a headache. He gave her five pills that he said would ease the headache but instead knocked her out; she woke up locked in a garage.
  • Neighbors at Garcia's apartment complex in Santa Ana are stunned by the allegations against the man they describe as a devoted family man, the Los Angeles Times finds. "He was a hard-working man, he worked two jobs," one resident says. "He would do anything for her and their daughter." Another resident says he doesn't "understand how he could have her like that all these years," when "the police station is right around the corner."
(More Isidro Garcia stories.)

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