Family Violence Expert Weighs In On Pre-Trial David Marmolejo Abuse Allegations

As David Marmolejo spent his first evening in the El Paso County Jail as a convicted killer, ABC-7 looked into the allegations of abuse leading up to Marmolejo’s mother’s murder.

“We have to respect the women who took the stand in this case,” said Stephanie Karr, executive director of the Center Against Family Violence.

Karr was referring to the pre-trial and post-trial testimonies of Marmolejo’s former lovers and family members. She said it’s not easy to make a public statement about a private relationship– especially when it’s abusive in nature.

“These kinds of personal details about a relationship become public knowledge. You have family and friends that now know, co-workers who know. There are ramification to putting yourself out there,” said Karr.

Most of the testimony regarding the alleged abuse against women at the hands of Marmolejo wasn’t part of the San Antonio trial.

For example, Mariah Wilson said in a pre-trial hearing that Marmolejo regularly beat her. She said that on one occasion Marmolejo choked her with a belt until she passed out.

In court, Wilson testified, “When I woke up I realized I was all wet and had peed on myself. He said he was lucky I didn’t (defecate) on myself.”

During that same hearing another of Marolejo’s ex-girlfriends, Caylee Osinger, testified Marmolejo also beat her and once threatened to kill her. Osinger testified that Marmolejo told her, “They’ll be here in 30 minutes to pick up your body and take you to Mexico.”

“We’ve certainly seen awful cases of physical injuries but these (accusations) are really vicious,” said Karr.

Laura Marmolejo, David’s current wife, testified after the trial that her husband beat her up twice, once in front of the couple’s children.

“It’s not about asking ‘Why did (the victim) stay with (the aggressor)?'” said Karr. “That’s not helpful. It’s about asking “Where did she get the courage to leave?’ There are many reasons people choose to stay in a relationship.”

Karr said victims can feel manipulated or threatened by aggressors, which is why it can be difficult to leave a bad situation. There’s also a misconception that somehow the abuse is the victim’s fault instead of the aggressor’s fault.

Karr said the best thing is to educate ourselves and pick up on red flags early on in romantic, domestic and family relationships. “We tend to misconstrue domestic violence as someone just being angry when it’s really a targeted, violent behavior that can be controlled,” said Karr.

The Center Aginst Family Violence has a 24-hour crisis hotline. The phone number is 915-593-7300.