Mom's First Husband

A few years back, it came on the news (while we lived in LA) about this “chained” man. It was the talk of this small town. To our surprise, it happened to be my mom’s brother-in-law! Some reporter wanted to find out if in reality this family had a chained person. Since the 2 sisters were very influential(very wealthy), the town police had not done anything about it--tofind out whether such rumors were true or not. The reporter went to the ladies’ house, and went in with cameras, to see what was going on. The sisters did not let the reporter in the house nor wanted to speak to him. The reporter found out more or less where people thought the chained man was. The room where the man would be had a door that lead to a street. The second day, the family was feeling pressure and let the reporter in the house. Of course, the man was not anywhere to be seen. The reporter asked to see the room that has the door that leads to the street. The sisters said they never open that room, and did not let him in. The clever reporter placed some clear tape across the opening of the “unopened” door. He left the house with no proof of anyone living there other then the sisters. The third day, the reporter asked to go in the house again. Right after they let him in, he headed to the door he had placed some tape on. The “unopened” door had been open because the clear tape was torn. He asked the women, "I thought you never open this door, how come some one did?" The cam guy was catching all of this on tape. Shortly after that, you can see someone opening the door. It was a room that did not appeared to have electric light. You can see the reporter covering his nose and mouth as he walks into this dark room. There seemed to be a toilet, but looked more like a small basin with a hole, and rusted. The cam focused to a shadow located at a corner of the room, opposite from where they were coming in. As they get closer, you can now start to see a sort of heavy man dressed in white. Then the reporter asked him if he lives in that room. The guy told him yes. The reporter noticed the clothes the guy was wearing were brand-new, or seemed as though they had never been worn before. The question everyone had been waiting for was finally asked: “Have you been chained, and if so, for how long?” he said he had been chained since long time ago. He came to conclusions that it was about 50 years!!!!!!! Then he let the reporter take his new shirt off. You could see the marks of the chain, which were laying about 10ft away from him stuck to a metal short pole, around his waist. Then the reporter asked him if he knew why his sisters did that to him. His answer was, “I don’t know…I guess because they say I am crazy.”

Everyone of my family that was watching the news, we were crying. We could not help it, watching such intense scenes. The 3 children from my mom’s first husband were also watching the news. The police got the chained man and took him to get checked both physically and mentally to a hospital in Guadalajara located far away from the small town he once was a miserable “slave.” Doctor’s stated that the man was coherent and did not show any signs of being “crazy.” --That was what the police were waiting to hear so they can take a statement from the victim to get a warrant for the sisters’ arrest. Who could have guessed that a few hours before the man could give the statement, he mysteriously died! :( the same man that was just diagnosed to be sane and, despite the environment and circumstances he went through, capable of living a long life, died of a heart attack. Police could not find the sisters anywhere. Nowhere were they to be found! It was obvious to assume that the sisters were the cause of his death. Perhaps they hired someone to kill him. Their greed to keep all the wealth for themselves was certain, not caring what they had to do to get it. The "poor" rich guy lived a horrible life due to the lowestness of his sisters.

One of my 2 half sisters developed some type of trauma after watching her uncle live on TV in such condition, and the outcome of the whole situation; that almost made her loose her mind. She became very protective of her children. She would tell them to close all windows and doors because some one was watching her, and "they" wanted to take her children away. Her kids were taking it as a joke, thinking that she was playing around. But soon, they realized otherwise. Their mom did not want to go to the doctor, nor wanted to eat because she thought someone was after her and wanted to see her dead. My sister had to get some time off from work to go out of the States to see her. Her visit was actually very rewarding. My half sister trusted her, and knew that she would not harm her. Apparently, she had been going through some problems with her husband, and then the situation with her uncle trigger her behavior. A doctor prescribed some medicine, which had to be put on her food; otherwise she would not have taken it. Slowly but surely, she got better. She regained all her senses. When she was finally well, she would go to the doctor on her own and would take her medicine. The doctor diagnosed her with some type of mental illness that it is triggered only by certain factors like, stress, problems, pressure, dramatic events, etc. It is a gene, actually. Reminds me the freckle gene. If you have the freckle gene, you might not show any physical freckles in your entire life, unless you are exposed to the factors, which “turn” it on. This might conclude that the chained guy might have been incoherent for some time, but did not meant that it would be for the rest of his life. How can people be so cruel with their own family? All was for the love of money!

My mom and her first husband make a great fairy tale but true story. Perhaps because of their different social backgrounds. But I will write about this Cinderella-like story another time.