A Family's Betrayal

On February 11 2011, a 10-year-old girl Nubia Docter Barahona was abused and murdered. On February 14 2011, her body was found in the pickup truck bed of her adoptive father in West Palm Beach Florida, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag. Today's case is a terrible one from Miami Florida, that has yet to receive justice. It's one that has truly bothered and enraged me; children are meant to feel safest at home, and while that is true for the majority of them, there are children in this country who have to fight for their lives the moment they walk through their front doors and that is regrettable the circumstance in today's case as well.

fraternal twins Nubia and Victor Docter were born on May 26, 2000, in Spoken Washington, to Sandra K. Docter, a drug and alcohol abuser. Their mother had four children prior to them, all of whom had been removed from her care by the Department of Children and Families (DCF). Nubia was born with congenital adrenal hyperplasia, which means her body was unable to produce two vital hormones: one that enables the body retain salt and another known as cortisol that helps the body cope with physical stress. To be born with it means both of her parents carry a recessive gene from their parents, and even then, she may have been born without it like Victor. Nubia's condition required her to take medications to replace hormonal stress and avoid salt wasting; if she did not take the right amount of medication, she would be at risk of not growing properly and experiencing abnormal puberty; failure to take the medication could also result in life-threatening illnesses and even death. Nubia was however born with both male and female genitals, Medical experts allegedly recommended that Nubia should remain in a medical foster home that would eventually meet her very essential medical needs, but this never took place and she remained in Sandra's care. The twins were the topic of a call to the state's Child Welfare hotline at just a few days old, due to their mom's history of substance issues; they were briefly placed in foster care, but Victor returned to his mother shortly after turning two months old. Sadly, their reunion with their mom didn't last long. The Twins were 21 months old when the authorities received a report of parental problems, It appears that an argument erupted between Sandra and Victor's father, which heated up and Sandra threw her cellphone at Victor, striking him in the face. Despite the traumatic event, the twins continued to be in the care of their mother for an entire year as a result of an ineffective investigation by DCF. After a year of lack of action, the agency's queues reduction unit finally picked up the investigation in March of 2003 as a response to news stories in the Miami Herald about the agency's failure to respond to thousands of neglected reports. About the same time, Sandra was seen at Mercy Hospital and indicated to staff that she had been using stronger drugs such as white powder and opium; in response, DCF submitted a petition to terminate her rights as a parent, essentially ending her claim to the twins.

The twins were put in custody with their father, Victor Bustillo, who had trouble taking care of the twins and allegedly left them in the care of others for a long period of time. Fortunately, according to reports, they were not able to stay with him for long because he was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a child not in his custody in 2004.

Nubia and Victor were placed in foster care in the house of Jorge and Carmen Barahona in Miami Florida, due to a mother who was too distracted getting high on the streets of Miami and a father who is now in jail for terrible deeds himself.

The couple had previously adopted a boy with autism and fostered two other children. The Barahona's had been approved as foster parents by the Florida DCF and had taken in lots of kids over the years. It's unclear why the Barahonas were selected as the twins foster parents, but their expertise as foster parents and readiness to take in multiple children are likely reasons. Jorge Barahona had a clean record with no past arrests or legal issues and opened a pest control firm two years after his marriage to Carmen.

Carmen's daughter Jennifer Perez still lived in the house with them at the time, stating that while their marriage appeared to be healthy, Jorge was extremely obsessed with monitoring where his wife was. The twins' new foster home on Southwest 47th Terrace was a continual source of change for the next few years when their birth father was found guilty and sentenced to probation for violently abusing children. While the case against their father was ongoing, Nubia and Victor began kindergarten at Royal Palm Elementary School. Nubia wet her pants at school one day, and her teacher thinking it was no big deal, called Carmen to bring her a change of clothes but Nubia was terrified and told the teacher "mamma is going to beat me with a sandal on the bottom of my feet," Nubia locked herself in a bathroom and broke down in tears.

Nubia and Victor were both in first grade at Blue Lakes Elementary School In 2008. Teachers were already worried about the twins' well-being considering Nubia had an odor and was hoarding food to take back home with her, while Victor would never come to school with the proper necessities for school. Additionally, there had already been two calls to the Child Welfare hotline since the twins moved in with their foster family the Barahona's, with warning signs like a bruised chin, dirty clothes, and excessive absences. Both cases were closed after DCF investigators stated they found no proof of any sort of physical abuse taking place. Despite this, the Twins were well-liked at school, and Nubia was known for treating teachers with respect; she would even go and pick up her brother from his class at the end of the day.

NOW LETS GO OVER THE INCIDENT THAT LEAD TO THE TRAGIC EVENT

Jody Schnick, a social worker at Nubia School, went to visit the Barahonas residence on March 5th, 2009, because of the children's frequent absences. The house was encircled by a tall and thick wooden fence and an electronic metal gate. The front metal gate was open, and Jorge's pest treatment truck was parked outside, but no one answered the door when the social worker knocked, so she left a letter and documented her visit with the local police station. Four days later, Carmen informed the social worker that Nubia needed to undergo a procedure, and in May 2009 Nubia and Victor were legally adopted by their foster parents. They had been living with this family for several years by this point. In April 2010, a teacher alerted school counsellor Carol Pena that Nubia has a strong stench and that the other students are now complaining about it.

Carol started meeting with Nubia at least twice a week for 40 minutes towards the end of the school day; despite the fact that it was towards the end of the day, Carol could still smell residuals of the foul odor that Nubia came with to school, which turned out to be a pungent scent of old urine. Carol and Nubia talked about her home life during their meetings. Nubia told Carol that she was fine with her younger brothers using up the hot water before her and getting extra soda and Cake because her two adopted brothers were disabled. At the time of her meetings with Carol, Nubia was caught stealing chocolate from a teacher's container and revealed to be doing so because she was so hungry. Carol planned for Nubia to get milk and fruit at school twice a day and maintained seeing her daily.

However, Carol's efforts to help Nubia appeared to irritate Carmen. Nubia's appearance also began to deteriorate; her hair was long and thin, the features of her face became more noticeable as if she was losing weight, and she seemed to be exhausted; at some point, she stole money from another kid for ice cream and nearly missed two weeks of school in june.

Nubia claimed that the family trip to Disney World in June was the cause of the absences, but Carol noticed that she didn't seem like a teenager who just got back from a vacation. Carol met with Nubia approximately twenty times in total, but she never confided in her about any issues at home or displayed any fear. Instead, Nubia spoke about her love for her adoptive mother and how she enjoyed spending weekends with her adoptive father. However, during one meeting, Nubia shared a disturbing dream with Carol. She recalled having a dream in which she saw burning buildings and her adoptive father shooting everyone, including her and that the dream stopped when she woke up.

The elementary school phoned the Children Welfare hotline on June 9th, 2010 as a result of Nubia's uncontrollable hunger anxiety and even hair loss. According to Carol, they gave DCF Nubia's entire history, starting from first grade up until that point, along with notes that excused her absences but weren't approved by the specialist overseeing her medical care. DCF allegedly explained to the counsellor that they could not accept the report that it was a special condition case and that they were going to create a record of it. The Barahona family formally pulled the twins out of school in the summer of 2010 and planned to homeschool them , the Twins were kept at home 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and were put through to constant physical attacks, hitting, bindings, you mention it, and Victor explained this as a level of torture, being tied down in various positions, having his mouth wrapped in tape being hit occasionally with a mop, and even punched by his adoptive dad Jorge, which ultimately left scars on his head and mouth. He also claims to have been forced to eat a cockroach and choked and that he had his eyes bound shut with glue.

Carmen, the twins' adoptive mother, was clearly aware of what was going on, but instead of defending them, she allegedly cursed them and called them horrible names. Based on a search warrant, the twins were still in an abusive environment in 2011, when they were subjected to physical assaults, harsh punishments, and other unjust and terrible behavior. According to the police report, they were injured several times and even bound with clear ceiling tape, and they were frequently locked inside the house's bathroom for days.

Carmen later admitted to authorities that the Twins were sometimes punished by being placed outside in garbage and recycling bins, and that when a six-year-old relative visited the home, she was told to stay quiet and not tell anybody after witnessing the twins bound by tape in the bathtub. in February 2011 George allegedly violently abused his 10-year-old daughter Nubia to death in their Florida home . Nubia's wrists and feet were bound while George dragged her from the bathtub to the bedroom where he physically assaulted her. Victor Nubia's twin remained in the bathroom, hearing his sister beg for her life as she screamed until she died.

A road ranger saw a red Toyota pickup truck on the shoulder of northbound 195 between Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard and 45th Street in West Palm Beach around 5:00 a.m. on Monday, February 14, 2011. He phoned the cops when the truck was still there two and a half hours later. West Palm Beach Fire Rescue arrived to the call and discovered Jorge Barahona on the ground and Victor Barahona in the truck's cab. By the time rescuers arrived, both were conscious, but Victor was having convulsions with seizures. When one of the firemen approached the truck, he was overcome by a strong odor, and decontamination procedures were initiated. The truck bed was filled with unlabeled plastic chemical containers. The truck had the name of Jorge's pest control business, CJ Pest Control, leading detectives to suspect the substances were pesticides. One unlabeled container contained acid, which prompted firemen to ask why a pest controller would have such a chemical. State Troopers were dispatched to the CJ Pest Control address but were unable to get in touch with anyone.

After further investigation, we found out that Victor was covered in acid, and there was so much of it in the car that it saturated the carpet and seats, making the air surrounding the truck lethal. Victor and Jorge were transferred to different hospitals for treatment of their injuries. By the afternoon, a city hazardous team and the state Department of Environmental Protection had come to sanitise the area. Around 3:45 p.m., a DEP contractor sorting through the chemical tubs in the truck bed discovered a black garbage bag with Human remains inside.

FBI agents assisted in the endeavor to disinfect the area so that county forensics experts could examine the remains. The body was transferred to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy around Tuesday 8:30 p.m. The body's identity was kept secret for two days after its discovery until it was revealed to be the body of Nubia Barahona, Victor's twin. Her body was badly decomposed and difficult to identify due to the acid and other hazardous chemicals that had been poured over it.

THE INVESTIGATION

Victor was initially rushed to nearby St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach Florida, before being transferred two days later to the burn centre at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. He suffered "severe internal reactions" after inhaling hazardous gases in the truck, and he had chemical injuries all over his body. Doctors discovered that the boy had previously suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured collarbone, a broken arm, scars on his buttocks and upper belly, and rope scars on both wrists. On March 2, 2011, Victor was eventually released and put in a rehabilitation foster family. On February 16, Jorge was arrested on child abuse complaints against Victor and transferred from Columbia Hospital in West Palm Beach to the Palm Beach County jail. While in jail he told police that he was distraught over the death of his daughter and had driven to Palm Beach County with the intention of committing suicide by setting himself on fire. He claimed he chose the I 95 shoulder so he could be "easily found." He said he gave Victor a handful of sleeping tablets before pouring petrol over his own head, he then tried to ignite a lighter but was unable to do so since he did not want to take Victor with him. Investigators discovered a red gasoline container filled with acid in the truck. When police asked why he didn't have as many noticeable burns as Victor, Jorge claimed that part of the gas must have splashed on him. The authorities determined that Jorge's version of incidents contradicted the boy's injuries. According to autopsy reports, Nubia was battered to death on February 11, the day a DCF official arrived to investigate a call to their abuse hotline. According to the police report, Jorge "repeatedly beat and punched Nubia" until she "screamed and cried to death." Jorge's wife Carmen Barahona stated to investigators that she and her husband had been separated for six months however they had never been apart. The couple's other two children were taken away from the family residence and placed in foster care after staying with Carmen's parents for a while.

A FAMILY SECRET

On February 10, 2011, just four days before Jorge Barahona's truck was discovered on the side of the road, Alessandra Barahona's therapist contacted child welfare officials. Alessandra told her therapist that during her visits to her grandmother Carmen house, Nubia and Victor were tied by their hands and feet and forced to stand for hours in the bathtub, with their hands unbound only when it was time for them to eat. She also claimed that she saw her grandparents Jorge and Carmen force Victor and Nubia to strip naked and walk in circles in the living area, or stand naked for hours in the bathtub or inside a trash can.

She apparently heard her grandma say "that's what they deserved" when she once asked why the Twins were only given milk and bread. She further listed more horrifying deeds that had occurred like Jorge trying to drown Victor and the couple trying to strangle him. She also claimed to have seen potential sexual assaults and may have even been the victim of one herself. She told investigators she wasn't allowed to go into the bathroom unless she was being watched. But there was a time when she saw Victor and Nubia in the bathtub tied with ropes or tape. It appears that George forced all of the kids to play doctor and touch each other in an inappropriate way, and another time she said she saw Nubia lying naked in bed with Jorge. Her own mother Jennifer Perez warned her from speaking out about these assaults, claiming that it was a family secret and that by speaking out would result in severe consequences. The couple's 11-year-old autistic son attempted to share a "secret" with a DCF investigator who paid a visit to the house just before Nubia died, but the investigator claimed Carmen declined him as "low-functioning" and instructed him to watch TV in another room. Alessandra was transferred from her mother Jennifer Perez's care to her father Yovani Perez's following the finding of Nubia's body. A judge further mandated that the girl's mother and her other family members must not communicate with the girl. The mother, Jennifer Perez, "not only mentally abused the child by exposing her to the brutal treatment of the twins, but also by threatening the child repeatedly to keep quiet while pushing her to be complicit in the manipulation, including a calculated attempt by the mother to keep the child from revealing it to DCF officials,". According to a DCF official, Alessandra should no longer live with her mother.

After her husband was arrested, Carmen told detectives that she had returned home several times to find the kids bound with tape and that Jorge had threatened to kill her if she told anyone what she had seen. She also said that Jorge was violent and would hurt her and the kids with his shoes. The detectives' emphasis on the Barahona family home in Miami after Nubia's death was made clear by the court filings. They took several items from the residence, including blood-stained clothing, towels, mop head, and even rolls of duct tape. They also took DNA samples from the walls of the dining room and bedroom.

Additionally, they discovered a note that George wrote in 2006, in which he confessed to killing himself and claimed to have mixed Excedrin PM and Advil PM. When confronted about this, George portrayed himself as a media freak who was concerned about how an overzealous investigator may interpret his death if he had actually carried out his threat to kill himself using Tylenol PM and other drugs. George wrote that he didn't want anybody to suspect his wife Carmen if he died, Just a pretty strange thing to say. Three days after being detained, Jorge reportedly stepped on a sink in his cell and fell backwards to the floor in an effort to hurt himself. This was just one of several alleged attempts by Jorge to harm himself while he was in custody., as part of their investigation, he was transferred to a hospital for treatment. In order to determine whether any purchases were made for such potentially corrosive substances and chemicals, authorities requested access to Jorge's financial records. He admitted to detectives that he wrapped his daughter's body in a plastic bag with the intention of heading north to set himself on fire, but he was prevented from doing so because his son Victor was sitting in the truck with him.

However, Victor had also been doused in a chemical, so was he going to take Victor out as well? Possibly!. Along with her husband, Carmen was also arrested for allegedly killing her daughter Nubia. After Victor was well enough to be interviewed by police his testimony revealed that Nubia's fatal wounds, which were apparently blunt force trauma according to the forensic examiner, were inflicted at their house.

In the immediate aftermath of the Barahona case, the DCF guaranteed a reform. The agency plans to reinvent the way in which cases are taken care of and they are considering bringing on an additional 80 detectives to South Florida to help decrease caseloads for workers. Additionally, training was assured to be provided for hotline abuse operators. A jury report later discovered that DCF gave the Barahona's a pass every time reports of abuse surfaced. In April 2017, as part of a settlement with the Florida Department of Children and Families, Victor Barahona was given $5 million by Florida lawmakers. The department handled the Barahona Twins case poorly, according to the state's government, and there were numerous warning signs that went unnoticed.

Sincerely, I am at a loss for words. I can't believe how many people let Nubia and her brother down. The DCF was repeatedly warned about the abuse they were experiencing, and numerous calls were made to report it. In fact, it is shocking that they were ever adopted at all given the opposition from their Guardian, teachers, and Nubia's nurse.

In 2011 February Nubia was murdered, and this case has still not gone to trial. There are many reasons why one attorney withdrew due to a criminal inquiry into the firm's payment methods. Others completely abandoned the case. The defense effectively had to start from the beginning as a new attorney was given the difficult task of sorting through around 1000 court entries and more than ten years' worth of depositions from witnesses, pleadings, and investigative materials. 9 years after Nubia's death, Carmen, then 69, finally admitted to killing her. As part of the plea deal, Carmen will testify against her husband, who would likely face the death penalty for torturing and killing his 10-year-old adoptive daughter. Her actual sentence will now be postponed until Carmen has fully cooperated with the prosecution; however, if she fails to do so, she still risks receiving the death penalty.

Jorge was attacked by five other inmates in March 2021 while he was asleep; all five have been charged with assault by an inmate for the attack on Jorge, who is now 54 years old. Since the inmates tampered with the camera, Jorge was not captured on surveillance footage, so this case goes beyond simple child welfare. In a handwritten letter to an appeals court in 2021, Jorge maintained his innocence while he was imprisoned. His trial was due to take place last month in April 2023, so we will check to see if it truly took place or not.

What Nubia and her brother went through was clearly torture, involving various forms of physical and even mental pain that were perpetrated over an extended amount of time and resulted in death and lasting scarring.

Every kid should have the opportunity to have a life full of love and laughter and to be a part of a loving, supportive family, but Nubia and Victor were deprived of this and instead suffered horrendous abuse and torture at the hands of the two people who were meant to love, protect, and take care of them. Every child deserves parents, but not all parents deserve to have children. Jorge and Carmen misused their position of authority and treated the twins horribly.