Oklah
by It had been more than a day since Francisco Merlos had spoken to his girlfriend when he went by her mother's house Saturday to check on her. The couple had a split two days before, and Merlos was hoping to patch things up.
Merlos said Geneva Gomez, 33, had come by his apartment Thursday at the behest of her mother, Juanita Gomez, and gathered her things. Merlos said Juanita Gomez had accused him of theft, a charge he denies, and wanted her daughter to leave him.
When he knocked on her door Saturday, Juanita Gomez grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him inside, Merlos said.
"I hugged her and said I was sorry for what happened on Thursday," Merlos said.
In a Monday court filing, Oklahoma City police said Juanita Gomez killed her daughter Saturday in their home at 1529 N McKinley by trying to force a crucifix down her throat, believing her daughter was possessed by the devil. She later positioned her daughter in a cross pose and laid a crucifix on her chest.“I was like ‘where's my girl,' and she said ‘she's in the room.' Usually, my girl is real happy. She'd say “I'll be right out, baby,' or something like that. But, it was just the TV going on, there was no sound or anything," Merlos said. "And then I looked, and she was laying on her back with the cross on her chest, and you couldn't even recognize her face.”
Merlos, frantic, tried to leave the home as Juanita Gomez rambled incoherently about "money" and "the devil." She tried to lock Merlos in the house, he said, and then offered him a ride home.
"I just push her to the side, open the door, and she tries to get me in a chokehold," he said.
Merlos escaped the home and called 911. A friend waiting outside suggested he try to administer CPR to Geneva Gomez.
“I went in there, and I was like I can't, I can't do it. I don't know what to do," Merlos said, pausing to collect himself as he sat as his kitchen table, a look of disbelief on his face. "I walked out the door and that's when the fire trucks came.”
“Today we were going to go to the courthouse and get married," he said before lowering his head and quietly crying.
Juanita Gomez waived her Miranda Rights when approached at the home by officers, telling them she first began believing Geneva Gomez was possessed by the devil a day prior. Officers said Juanita Gomez had bruising and swelling around the knuckles on both of her hands and arms.
"Juanita stated she punched her daughter repeatedly and forced a crucifix and religious medallion down her throat until blood came out of her daughter's mouth," according to court documents filed Monday. "Juanita saw her daughter die and then placed the body in the shape of a cross."
After placing the body in a cross position, the filing states, Juanita Gomez then cleaned her daughter's body.
Juanita Gomez, 49, was booked on a homicide complaint at the Oklahoma County jail, where she remained held without bail Monday afternoon.
Merlos and others who know the family said the nature of the crime is even more shocking, considering Juanita and Geneva Gomez had a tight bond. They worked together as massage therapists, and were described as being as close as sisters.
“They do their nails, they do their hair, everything (together)," Merlos said.
Jabee Williams, a local rap musician, said he would often see them together at his shows, and the two spent a lot of time together. But when he ran into Juanita Gomez at a store a few weeks ago, her behavior was different.
"I kind of felt like she wasn't herself," he said.
At her arraignment Monday, Juanita Gomez seemed unfazed while speaking to the judge, making religious remarks and asking about the lack of toilet paper in her jail cell.
Friends and family are planning a memorial for Geneva Gomez on Tuesday evening at McKinley Park, 1300 N McKinley Ave
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