The mother of the child known as “Baby Hope” spoke with reporters Monday as the man accused of sexually assaulting and smothering the girl more than 20 years ago sits in jail.
Margarita Castillo spoke with reporters in Spanish through her door Monday, though she did not walk outside of her door.
“Right now, no, I don’t have the strength to talk about it. I would ask you to understand this,” she said.
“At least there is a culprit, and that is what we were waiting for, for justice,” she added.
Neighbors were shocked that the mother of “Baby Hope” lives on their block.
“I’ve known her and seen her and her daughters and stuff like that, and they’re really nice people,” said neighbor Jackie Binady. “So hearing all this stuff, it’s just like, I don’t really believe that it could be possible, like, her doing anything on purpose, because she’s such a nice woman.”
“I believe if she was a better mother, she could tell everybody what happened years back,” said neighbor Alberto Mercado. “That’s the only thing I could think of. How come she never said anything about this?”
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly also answered questions about why the mother of “Baby Hope” never reported her missing.
“Difficult to say,” Kelly said. “Of course, we’re talking to them as well, so we hope to get more information in that regard.”
“Baby Hope,” whose real name is Anjelica Castillo, was found murdered inside a cooler in 1991.
She was sexually assaulted.
Her grave site now bears her given name.
Police say her second cousin, Conrado Juarez, 52, confessed to killing the 4-year-old girl.
Juarez remains in custody after pleading not guilty at his arraignment this weekend.
Kelly says due to the nature of the crime, they’re looking into seeing whether Juarez may be linked to a case similar, and as serious, as this one.
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via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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