Whittier couple accused of killing girl driven to Mexico border by neighbor
A couple charged with killing a 4-year-old girl whose body was put in a bag and taken to Mexico paid a woman $100 on Aug. 9, 2016 to drive them to the border, a detective testified in court Tuesday.
Details about how Mercy Becerra, 46, and her boyfriend, Johnny Hartley, 41, reached Mexico came out during the second day of their preliminary hearing in a Los Angeles court on Tuesday.
The prosecution alleged the couple had taken the girl, Angelina W., from her mother, Amanda Z., abused the child and killed her on or about Aug. 9, 2016. Hartley and Becerra walked into Mexico with a bag containing the girl’s body. Mexican officials discovered the body when the bag was X-rayed.
San Diego police arrested the pair. Whittier police also got involved because Becerra and Hartley lived at the Best Whittier Inn on Whittier Boulevard at the time.
Whittier police Detective Ralph Kremling said he was asked to assist in the investigation and went to the motel to talk to Rebecca Levy the morning of Aug. 10, 2016. She was staying at the motel at the time. Kremling said he asked Levy about a trip she took with Becerra and Hartley the day before.
Hartley knocked on Levy’s door around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 9, 2016, asked if she could drive them to the Mexican border and offered her $100, according to Kremling. He said Levy agreed.
He said Levy drove the Toyota 4-Runner and the passengers included Levy’s boyfriend, Hartley, Becerra, Becerra’s 19-year-old daughter, the boyfriend of the 19-year-old and Becerra’s 14-year-old daughter. Kremling didn’t know the daughters’ names.
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“(Levy) said Johnny had a tote bag and Mercy had a tote bag,” Kremling said, adding that the bag Hartley carried was described as a darker tote bag. Levy told the detective she thought it odd that the group only had two bags since they were going to Mexico.
“She said they were listening to music and not talking at all,” Kremling said.
He said Levy and her boyfriend left the others at a Burger King at the border.
Becerra and Hartley were charged in October 2016 with murder, assault on a child causing death, torture and human trafficking to commit pimping/pandering. The prosecution alleges that the couple forced Angelina W.’s mother into prostitution between Nov. 7, 2012, and Aug. 9, 2016. The couple have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Amanda Z.,who alleged that the couple forced her into prostitution, continued her testimony on Tuesday. She said Hartley threatened to have his “home girls” hurt her if she stopped selling herself for money. Later, when she had her own room at the Best Whittier Inn, she said he handed her a letter.
Deputy District Attorney Guiillermo Santiso presented a copy of the letter as one of the prosecution’s exhibits. Part of the letter read: “If you stop (expletive) off all these guys I’ll make sure you see your daughter.”
Amanda Z. said some clients would want her to do other sexual acts which she would reject.
“If they want to do more, I would say no and they would get mad,” she said.
After she received the letter, she no longer told clients she didn’t do certain sexual acts. She said she was afraid she would get beaten.
Amanda Z. had four children whose fathers she didn’t know: Mercedes, Angelina, Elijah and Jonica. She said Becerra told her she was going to raise Mercedes as her own. She added that Becerra also took Elijah. The boy ended up calling one of Becerra’s daughters “mom” and one of Becerra’s sons “dad”.
This same daughter by Becerra took care of Jonica. The little girl died of SIDs when she was two months old, Amanda Z. said.
Amanda Z. said she told Becerra she wanted to raise Angelina herself. But she said the couple later took the child. Amanda Z. said the child would be brought to her for a few minutes. They were never alone.
She testified there was a time she would text Becerra or Hartley in an attempt to see her daughter. She said often the reply was that the girl was sleeping or playing or bathing. She stopped texting she said because she got tired of seeing the same response.
Amanda Z said she had told Becerra before she wanted to stop selling herself for money. She said she left twice. Both attempts were unsuccessful.
One attempt occurred while she was living in a house in Whittier with Becerra, Becerra’s children and Hartley. Amanda Z. said she put a shirt she found on her daughter Angelina W. and left without sandals. The child’s clothes and the sandals were in the room Becerra and Hartley shared. She said she took Angelina because she was closer to her.
“I snuck out the front door,” she said, adding that the couple were not awake then. Carrying Angelina, the sandal-less Amanda Z. ran to catch a bus. She said she didn’t have money but the driver allowed her to get in. She said she felt a little relieved when the bus started moving.
“It was just me and Angelina. Seeing my daughter smile back at me made me feel safe,” Amanda Z. said.
From a bus station in Norwalk, she took another bus to her parents’ home. She said she didn’t tell them what she was doing because she was ashamed. Her stay wasn’t long. She said Becerra showed up and she heard Becerra yelling her name. Becerra told Amanda Z. she needed to return with her because “child services” called.
Amanda Z. said she was scared her daughter Mercedes would be taken away. She went with Becerra and didn’t see anyone from “child services” at the Whittier home. She said Becerra told her they left.
On Aug. 9, 2016 she said she saw police at the motel talking to Becerra’s children. She stayed in her room, then went her parents. She later admitted under questioning by the prosecutor that she threw away the phone she used to text Becerra and Hartley when told to by one of Becerra’s children.
A San Diego detective reached Amanda Z. at her parents’ home and showed her a picture of Angelina lying without clothes on a slab. He asked if she knew the child.
Amanda Z. cried while on the stand. She told the detective she couldn’t identify the child because that was not how she remembered her.
“She was pale and skinny. Her facial features and so skinny. I couldn’t recognize her,” Amanda Z. said. She agreed to give the detective a DNA sample.