00:00:05
911 what's your emergency hey uh I'm a bus driver for and one of my students just passed me a
00:00:15
note that says his mother needs help and that his dad is uh hurting her okay do you have an address yeah
00:00:23
they live on it's the first house when you turn into the neighborhood okay officers are being dispatched now can
00:00:31
you stay with the child until law enforcement arrives yes I'm just parked outside the neighborhood I'll stay
00:00:38
here this is what the Los cruus Police Department were informed of on April 23rd
00:00:45
2021 just the night before Veronica had endured 12 hours of what could only be described as a living hell all because
00:00:53
of her of boyfriend Eric Alvarado at this point fearing for her and her Children's Life the main thing on her
00:01:00
mind was to call the police but Eric had confiscated her phone and refused to let
00:01:05
her leave his sight however Eric and Veronica's son still had to go to school this gave Veronica an idea an idea that
00:01:14
would save her and her family's life [Music] [Music] can you explain to me what's going on
00:01:31
today last night he was uming me a lot he was and with the with the pillows okay he picked me up he got my head and
00:01:42
against the cabinet and then he SL on top of here and then um my kids were screaming
00:01:49
and crying and he said that he was either I die or he's going to have a with two
00:01:56
guys Veronica is clearly distressed and just thankful that the cops are here to save her in fear of her life she wrote a
00:02:03
note behind Eric's back saying that she was in danger and to call 911 she passed
00:02:08
this note to her kids in hopes someone from their school would call the police the note was given to a bus driver who
00:02:15
immediately called the Los cruus Police Department the cops need to know exactly
00:02:20
what happened Veronica just told them that Eric would have a shootout with the cops if they came so they know they're
00:02:25
dealing with someone either dangerous or delusional something they would quickly
00:02:30
find out were you trying to get away from him or what happened I just started doing whatever he asked me he would even
00:02:36
tell me to follow him to the bathroom when he needed the bathroom he would make me pick up the seat for him okay he
00:02:42
he said are you going to let me and then I was just like what Nei and then but I was crying for my mom he said
00:02:51
you really think I would do that he didn't try to get out and he didn't forcefully try to
00:02:55
keep I've tried before and it never works so I I just stayed quietly and I stayed up on the back he I rolled B to
00:03:03
try to get away and he would just pull me closer and hug me okay but I don't have I didn't have a phone to call you
00:03:10
guys so I just don't only what happened to your phone he has it but he always takes it because he know that I'm going
00:03:16
to call okay so the marks on your face is that from him or mhm and not from okay listen to exactly what Veronica's
00:03:29
saying it's obvious that this isn't just a one-time thing she's using phrases like I've tried before and it never
00:03:36
works implying that she'd almost given up trying to escape him this is known as learned helplessness a condition where
00:03:44
an abused person starts to believe that they're powerless to save themselves because of the repeated abuse and
00:03:49
perceived lack of control unfortunately it's more common than you might think on
00:03:54
average it takes seven tries for a victim to escape their abuser and every single one of these failed attempt would
00:04:00
start to make them feel more and more powerless as though control of their life is slowly slipping away given that
00:04:06
Veronica has a 5-year-old son with Eric the abuse might have been going on for years with her essentially resigning her
00:04:12
Fate To His violence and manipulation if that's the case then her son's actions should be even more celebrated finally
00:04:19
freeing his own mother from a Relentless cycle of abuse can you explain to me what happened first yesterday we were
00:04:26
arguing I think he was just more official because he was yelling at the kids and then it started to get upset
00:04:32
with me he got upset because I didn't cook grabbed himself something to eat and he was he told me to [ __ ] up [ __ ]
00:04:38
and and give it to him but it's cuz I had the baby in the bed and I L down she was getting upset every time I walked
00:04:44
out okay and then so I came in here all mad talking [ __ ] and I was right there
00:04:49
by the microwave and I slammed it to close it cuz he had his food in there I was going to heat it up and he he told
00:04:56
me to shut up and then he got up and pulled me from my hair and pushed my head toward the the cabinet in my head
00:05:02
like went I that and this light SW right here went I that and my my my eyebrow hit right here Veronica continued to
00:05:08
tell the officer about that night's abuse how he choked her threw her around and grabbed hold of her so hard that she
00:05:15
couldn't Force his hand away to save herself I was holding on to his arm but he lifted me up cuz he's so strong he
00:05:21
Lifting me up and he slam me on the the counter my kids are crying at the same time my oldest son came out what did you
00:05:27
feel when he grab your neck I don't know like I was like like trying to fight to
00:05:31
get it off and all of a sudden like I just my body just started feeling weak feeling weak yeah and I just like I felt
00:05:38
like I was underwater and I couldn't breathe when I was just like trying to calm him down like oh baby I love you
00:05:44
please stop this is enough but I was just like cuz I already know how he is directly after being choked almost to
00:05:51
death she's still pleading with him and telling him that she loves him obviously
00:05:55
it can't be discounted that this was just an act to get him to stop but again this this is a very common reaction Eric
00:06:01
has likely used either love bombing or intermittent reinforcement to manipulate Veronica love bombing involves initially
00:06:08
showering the victim with affection and attention forming attachment quickly and
00:06:12
intermittent reinforcement involves quickly alternating between kindness and cruelty both of these create a powerful
00:06:18
emotional bond and dependency on the abuser making it much harder to leave despite making her feel like this
00:06:26
talking about are you scared or die and I'm like yes he's like how does it feel because you
00:06:32
almost died and I was just like okay if fair just hurts and painful he's like why why why are you scared to die are
00:06:39
they and then I said because my kids but the last little piece of information the
00:06:44
cops get might just be the most important one and unravel why tonight's abuse got so out of
00:06:53
hand from PTSD okay depression and he hasn't took his medication depression so much he has aniy Bol yeah
00:07:09
so the only thing that set him off was the whole him not having food ready and all that um no I was the kid who was
00:07:15
yelling at my son okay and that if anything gets on upset he gets really really upset apparently Eric suffers
00:07:23
from PTSD depression anxiety and bipolar he's supposed to take a Litany of meds to keep him stable but that night he
00:07:31
hadn't taken any of them of course this isn't an excuse for his behavior nor is it to be assumed that many bipolar
00:07:38
people would ever act in this manner but it could be a possible explanation for the severe and continued abuse how long
00:07:44
have you been with him um on and off for 7 years there is a time when he sent me
00:07:49
to the hospital but I I didn't first TR so you never felt B CU he always F he's just like I'm sorry this is I'm a sick
00:07:58
man been charged of domestic or anything like that he has in Los cruus or New Mexico mhm what's his previous what's
00:08:08
his exgirlfriend okay but not with you yeah a lot of times I drop the charges cuz I feel bad Eric is clearly dangerous
00:08:15
and needs to be locked up but that all depends on if Veronica is going to press charges this time or let herself be
00:08:22
manipulated out of it again but before she can even make that decision the other cop comes into the room and lets
00:08:28
them know that they need EMTs on the scene immediately when you were standing up and you
00:08:34
started oh started I don't know if he was trying he was making him do himself is that not is that normal for him he he
00:08:41
gets like that when he's really upset MH and he's not acting in an angry way he does that and sometimes like he'll fall
00:08:50
on me and like I can't pick him up okay so panic attacks are normal been in it all week she says he has KN in it seems
00:08:59
seems as though Eric has had a panic attack and needs help from a medic the thing is the cops can't be sure if this
00:09:05
is a genuine reaction or another way to try and guilt and manipulate Veronica but either way they get the fire
00:09:10
department on the scene to check him out does he need to go to the hospital boys
00:09:15
he's wanting to go oh he's wanting to go what do you think we're trying to just take a blood
00:09:20
pressure that's about it his Oxygen's good right now it's at 98% heart rate's fine a little elevated at 98 but nothing
00:09:28
crazy you take you take your medications for pcsd and the depression what do you take medications
00:09:34
first are you current on your medications always recommend heading up to the hospital especially cuz he has
00:09:41
like PTSD bipolar depression medically everything seems fine with Eric but they still decide to take him to the hospital
00:09:48
temporarily at his request in the meantime Veronica is now curious about the rest of the process and has made a
00:09:54
decision on if she's going to press charges BS himself out okay he told me I'm starting to remember a little bit
00:10:02
like I didn't think I'm going to be that long [ __ ] get it [ __ ] quick so I know you uh said you want a a
00:10:10
restraining order so we'll work on getting that usually it's going to be an Emer emergency restraining order would I
00:10:16
be able to push charges on him so in situations like this it's it's up to the state to pursue charges so usually we go
00:10:23
through it no matter if we have if we have charges we're going to go through the charges whether you want to or not I
00:10:28
should first charge just when I couldn't even open my eyes emergency restraining
00:10:32
orders are common in cases of domestic violence especially where there's children involved courts are often
00:10:39
available 24/7 for the filing of these and in open and shut cases like these they'll usually get approved on the same
00:10:45
day that means that Eric physically won't be allowed near Veronica her kids and likely their home unless he goes
00:10:52
through a rigorous legal procedure but it turns out that might not even matter as it looks like he's heading straight
00:10:57
to jail it isn't going to be a 40 for him he's going to be cleared already as long as he's clear should be fine then
00:11:04
he's going to bring me the hey can I get a this for from this point the officer fills
00:11:12
out the restraining order and takes care of some other paperwork and investigation around the house but the
00:11:16
day isn't over for Eric yet far from it he was taken to the hospital but as the officer figured he was discharged almost
00:11:24
as soon as he got there that meant that it was his turn in the spotlight and he was handed over to the police who were
00:11:30
going to make sure that he got exactly what he deserved stand up face me turn around
00:11:37
for this officer turn around for him I got a P Bro all right well before we take you in
00:11:51
all right you're going to be placed under arrest okay uh C is the one that are going to take you the charges
00:11:55
unfortunately I don't know them but you are going to be served a emergency restraining order I would suggest not
00:12:02
contacting her writing her going to the house none of that as the officer mentioned the case was handed over to C
00:12:10
or the criminal investigation division in even simpler terms the detectives usually a case is passed over the CID if
00:12:16
the crimes were particularly severe or if it requires the specific resources or skills the CID have in this case it's
00:12:23
very likely The Chronic abuse and psychological manipulation that warranted their intervention as to truly
00:12:29
unpack what happened here it would require an expert to dig deep and use their skills to figure everything out
00:12:36
that's why less than an hour after he was released from the hospital he was sat face to face with a detective that
00:12:41
was about to grill him for his side of the story unfortunately Eric didn't exactly make that easy and it ended with
00:12:47
him back in handcuffs and on his way to a cell CH Police Department how you doing
00:12:55
okay what happened last night nothing okay so you're here for a reason and I'm here with you for a reason and that's to
00:13:04
get to your side of story if you're going to tell me nothing I'm going to go ahead and leave and proceed my
00:13:08
investigation so right now this is your chance to what am I being charged with I'm not there yet but I'm in
00:13:15
investigation I'm investigating you I don't feel good man I want to I to got to take you back to the holding
00:13:24
table okay so the last thing that uh I need to do was get your side of the story s you're not going to give that to
00:13:30
me I'm going to go ahead and charge you with three counts of aggravated battery on a household member two of them are
00:13:35
strangulation the other one's going to be Suffocation for two of them be Suffocation one's going to be
00:13:39
strangulation batter in a household member and also debation of proper household member three of the five are
00:13:43
going to be felonies okay what what why are the felonies what did I do that three felonies why do you want to talk
00:13:49
to me about it but like what did I do what is this sh you I didn't do nothing I didn't do nothing bro okay I didn't do
00:13:56
nothing her stay with that stay with that story know what I'm not going to tell you anything cuz you don't want to
00:14:01
tell me anything as it turned out Eric would only be charged with two counts of aggravated battery of a household member
00:14:08
one count of battery against a household member and deprivation of property and with Eric safely in cuffs and in a
00:14:14
holding cell the police had only one more job to do to put Veronica's mind at ease hello uh may I speak to Veronica
00:14:23
please this is her yes okay um just real quick I wanted to let you know that I'm
00:14:29
going to go ahead and charge uh Eric he's going to have three felonies which is going to be aggravated battery on a
00:14:35
household member two of them are strangulation one's going to be strangulation the other one's going to
00:14:40
be battery on a household member and the other one's deprivation of property of a
00:14:44
household member so um another thing I'm asking the officer to call um a sky report to
00:14:49
cfd um because of what he exposed the children to they'll probably just reach out to you ask to see the conditions of
00:14:55
the house make sure that they're suitable for the children I know because of what happened but then um at the same
00:15:00
time I don't I I I know I don't know how to say this I accept what you're doing but there won't be any way he can see
00:15:07
his kid there will be but it's got to be in a in different terms now the way you
00:15:12
guys had it it obviously didn't work because look what he's exposing the children to as of July 2024 Eric
00:15:18
Alvarado is still awaiting sentencing and is being held without bond however based on his charges and history it's
00:15:24
estimated he'll likely spend up to 8 years behind bars with prvention and checks by CPS the children will also
00:15:31
receive treatment and care for any trauma or abuse caused by their father and Veronica will finally be free of the
00:15:37
horrific treatment caused by her evil husband and remember none of this would have happened if not for what Veronica's
00:15:44
5-year-old son did that morning being brave and strong enough to reach out to save his mom changing his whole family's
00:15:52
lives in one heartwarming and heroic move