Vanessa Garcia’s son breaks the silence: “They say my mother committed suicide but was sexually trafficked”

On August 9, around 12:30 in the afternoon, authorities from the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) in California found a body engulfed in flames and hanging from a tree, in Griffith Park.

It was the body of a woman that was found northeast of the Griffith Observatory, near a carousel and the Los Angeles Zoo, the LAPD said. “There are no indicators of foul play,” the corporation’s detective, Michael Ventura, reported in the area of ​​the incident, who also anticipated that there were no indications to suggest that someone committed an act against her will.

Elements of the LAFD (Los Angeles Fire Department) arrived at the scene, who were in charge of locating the human remains and extinguishing the flames. The LAPD, along with the forensic team, lowered the body from the tree and determined that due to extensive burns, the woman had died by self-immolation.

Detectives stated that the body could be that of a “local passerby” and did not provide further details, since they found no evidence at the scene, just a can of gasoline next to the tree. The case was treated as an apparent suicide and, according to records, is closed.

The woman was Vanessa Garcia, 36 years old and of Mexican origin.

“They say it was suicide but she was sexually trafficked”

Vanessa Garcia was born on September 9, 1985 and passed away on August 9 in Griffith Park. Almost a month after turning 37 years old, the Hispanic woman died of suffocation and hanging, according to the records of the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Department, consulted by Independent in Spanish.

Other important conditions of death were thermal burns and the cause of death was determined to be suicide, according to Case 2022-08295. Currently, the investigation is closed and the head of this situation is identified under the surname McGuyre, while the deputy forensic doctor is Dr. Ortiz.

This medium made a request for information about the case to the LAPD and they responded that, because the case has concluded, they cannot provide more information.

However, Vanessa Garcia’s son, Anthony Espinosa, has a different version than the one widely disseminated by Los Angeles authorities. In an exclusive interview with Independent in Spanishthe 21-year-old stated that “[el LAPD] said [la causa de muerte de su madre] It was a suicide, but a few days ago, I found some notes written by her, where she claimed that she was sexually trafficked.”

Espinosa said that several people “drugged her, raped her and threatened her,” according to a series of notes that her mother kept as a kind of diary. “Everything she was experiencing, she wrote down in that diary; she there she explains why she did what she did. She was in danger.”

Anthony added that the LAPD had his mother’s diary in their possession and believes that “they did not care”; However, the same agency declared to this medium that there are no previous reports or complaints from the family in its records. When requesting information from Espinosa regarding the case, he said he had no evidence of the complaints allegedly turned over to the authorities.

–What was your mother’s profession or what did she do to earn money?

“My mom didn’t work. I remember that when I was younger, she had a good job and earned a lot of money. I don’t know what year she lost her job, but in 2018, everything went downhill. What I know is that she had a lot of savings and from that she lived for a while”.

-On some occasion, he told them what his greatest dream or desire was…

“His biggest dream in life was to travel the world with us. My mother had three children, including me. Possibly, she could have killed herself because she was hurt. She was drugged and raped so much that her world came crashing down on her.”

–Did your mother have problems with any person or group, perhaps a local mafia?

“My mom wasn’t in the mafia or anything like that. What I do know, according to the notes she left behind before she died, is that she was followed for a long time by an Armenian boy identified as ‘AC’”.

–How long were you watched or persecuted by ‘AC’?

“I do not know how much time. She was always in and out of our lives, but I think she did it for our safety. ‘AC’ and other subjects knew that she had children, they knew who I was. I know because she wrote it.”

–Did your mother have any kind of emotional relationship with the ‘Armenian boy’?

“My mom never opened up to me about it because I was so young and as I got older we grew further apart from each other.”

Espinosa, devastated by the death of her mother, assured that she was very close to her daughter Aaliyah; and he revealed that even though she and her father broke up, they never had a problem. “My dad takes care of us all the time,” he assured. The 21-year-old added that his mother did not have a permanent home.

“There were times when she would come home to the family; she then stayed to sleep in the homes of cousins ​​and aunts, but then she disappeared again, ”he said intrigued. When questioned about the origin of her last name, he simply said: “Yes, we are all Mexican, but we have family in Bakersfield, Van Nuys and Whittier.”

“He woke up feeling bad in his private parts”

“They sent an Armenian boy to hit me in the ribs, they also sent another boy to hit me in the face. They also sent another boy to break my legs. They keep attacking me. They keep taking my things from me, they want me to prostitute myself ”, reads one of the notes that Vanessa Garcia left in her diary, according to an image shared by her son to Independent in Spanish.

As Anthony told this medium, when his mother was co-opted by the subjects –unidentified until now– he wanted to faint constantly and, the next day, “he woke up feeling bad about his private parts,” he revealed.

One of Vanessa Garcia’s diary notes hints at her fateful fate, according to her son: “They made her repeat over and over again: ‘I’m going to set fire to my loser prostitute’s eyes’.” Days after that note, the body of the 36-year-old Hispanic woman was found engulfed in flames and hanging from a tree in Griffith Park.

Anthony says he’s sure his mother filed some reports with the police, because he says she told about it in her diary, but he doesn’t know where they are and no proof of the reports can be found.

One of Garcia’s friends consulted by this means and who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed that “Vanessa was a sweet girl and always smiling. I have nothing but good memories. She was a free butterfly who met many people because everyone loved her energy. She had a stunning personality even though she was, at times, shy.”

Vanessa Garcia’s death certificate specifies that she had a history of several suicide attempts, as revealed in an interview with Independent in SpanishSarah Ardalani, chief of public information for the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Department.

According to Ardalani, “the canister with the fuel that set the fire was near the tree where Vanessa hung herself.” So far, no relatives have reported that she has been the victim of harassment or any other criminal action, the official said.

For her part, Espinosa started collecting funds for her mother’s funeral through GoFundMe. As of Friday, people had contributed more than $8,000 of the $20,000 requested by the family.

Suicide, a public health problem

A study published in 2011 by the Medical Science Monitor entitled “Gender differentiation in the methods of suicide attempt” he stated that, based on the fact that suicide is an important public health problem worldwide, the growing rate of those committed by more violent methods is alarming the public. scientific community.

The study involved 147 people (33 men and 114 women, ages 14 to 33) who attempted suicide by various methods and were hospitalized. The most prevalent suicide attempt methods were the abuse of pharmacological drugs (42.31 percent) and exsanguination (25.64 percent); while the least frequent were poisoning and jumping from a moving car (1.28 percent).

The findings also revealed that women tended to choose pharmacological drug overdose and exsanguination (bleeding to death) as a method of suicide; while men used hanging and suffocation more frequently. Women also used a greater number of different methods of suicide.

The document stated that “suicides in general are one of the main causes of death worldwide, with a mortality of approximately 2 percent; pointing out that the suicide attempt is also an important risk factor for the completion of suicide”.

When it comes to the number of suicides, it has been on the rise all over the world, especially among young and adult males. According to current estimates, “suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people.” Among the factors that contribute to suicide attempts are “feelings of helplessness and hopelessness, but also include the misunderstanding of others,” the study points out.