Juanita Gomez is facing a first degree murder charge.
Court documents show Gomez admitted to police she forced a crucifix down her daughter’s throat and watched her daughter die.
It was a horrific ending to a mother-daughter relationship.
The crime scene at 15th and McKinley is a couple blocks away from the city’s bustling Plaza District.
Police responded to Juanita’s home on a check welfare call Saturday afternoon.
Officers said they found 33-year-old Geneva Gomez lying on the ground with a large crucifix on her chest.
Her body was placed in the shape of a cross.
“I can’t imagine a mother doing that to her daughter, you know. I don’t have any words,” said a neighbor who didn’t want to be identified.
Court records show Gomez told police she believed her daughter was possessed by the devil, Juanita punched her daughter and “forced a crucifix and religious medallion down her throat until blood came out of her daughter’s mouth.”
Monday, candles sat outside the Gomez home.
We’re told Geneva was just visiting her mother, who neighbors said kept to herself.
“She was a very quiet person. She didn’t really talk to other people. She was just in her own little world,” the neighbor said.
Gomez was arrested in 2003 on drug and weapon charges.
The district attorney dismissed most of those, and she didn’t serve any time in prison for pleading guilty to possession of drug proceeds.
Gomezis now being held without bond.
She’s expected to go before a judge Tuesday morning.
