The little girl's family had hosted some friends for a Fourth of July party, and if she's like most five-year-olds, I'm sure her day was filled with fun and sparklers and watermelon.
But the holiday was over, and she was safe in her bed now, as her parents cleaned up outside.
In any other circumstance, this could have been any home on a summer evening after a party. But in this home in small-town Pennsylvania, a stranger walked into the little girl's bedroom and brutally raped her, nearly killing this child.
In tiny Taylor Borough, a community just outside of Scranton, this crime was so brutal, it has law enforcement officials saying that the little girl wasn't attacked - she was tortured.
In the days that followed, the district attorney's office has been ovewhelmed with offers from people who hope this little girl can overcome the emotional damage done by this horrible person, and maybe at some point, she can fall asleep again.
I'm hoping that with more help, her family can move out of the house trailer where they lived, and the little girl will never need to see her old room again. Below the fold I have a way for you to make that possible, if you can spare a few bucks.
They're calling it "The Marley Fund" named after the little girl's pet guinea pig.
The Marley Fund grew from an overwhelming number of offers of help for the five-year-old girl who was raped, choked and brutalized in her bedroom while her parents cleaned up outside from a Fourth of July picnic in their backyard. Both the Lackawanna County DA's office and the Children's Advocacy Center of Northeast PA have been fielding offers since the attack on Independence Day.
Fourty-year-old Felix E. Montoya, who had attended the picnic as a friend-of-a-friend, called his attack of the little girl "stupid" as he stood before a judge who was about to set his bail on charges of rape of a child, attempted homicide and other offenses. Montoya is jailed at the Lackawanna County prison on $500,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing Aug. 26. (If the other prisoners allow him to live that long...)
When asked if he had anything to say, Mr. Montoyo told the judge "I am sorry for real. I never did anything like this before in my life. It is stupid."
The story of the attack will rip your heart out.
According to a criminal complaint filed by Taylor Patrolmen Kevin Froese and Ryan Deluccie, the victim's family hosted an Independence Day picnic Saturday in their yard. Although unknown to the family, Mr. Montoyo attended as a friend of a friend.
The victim went to bed at about 10:30 p.m. At 2 a.m. Sunday, her parents began to clean up and checked on their children, only to find the victim's door locked. The mother knocked on the door and after a few moments, the girl opened it and ran out, her face red and swollen and her underpants on backwards. Mr. Montoyo was found under a bed wearing only tennis shoes and a T-shirt, police said. The father entered the room and cornered the man until police arrived.
Investigators found the girl's nightgown stained with blood and feces. At Community Medical Center, Dr. Michael Rogan of the Children's Advocacy Center and emergency room physician Dr. Vincent Pollino cataloged the girl's injuries: Severe bruising and cuts to the back, bruising and bleeding around the eyes consistent with strangulation, adult bite marks on shoulder and thigh, adult hand marks on her neck and right cheek and rape-related injuries significant enough to require surgery.
I worry about this little girl, and I don't even know her name. I think about my own child, and how when he's asleep in his bed his biggest worry is that he could have a nightmare - not that one will actually happen to him. This little girl now has to overcome so much. Her physical wounds will heal, but her emotional ones are those that worry me and so many others - even those who have seen horrors on a daily basis - more .
"It's one of the worst crimes, if not the worst crime, that an adult can to do a child - to sexually assault a child, to try to kill a child," said Marsha Gilmer-Tullis, director of the family advocacy division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"The behavior is just one people have a hard time getting their minds around. The average person looks at this and asks what kind of person would perpetrate this kind of crime against a child."
She and other experts in child predation say the question does not have an easy, one-size-fits-all answer.
The scene at the little girl's home has deeply troubled the police officers who responded to the home on the night of the attack.
"The little girl wasn't victimized," Taylor Patrolman Ryan DeLuccie said. "She was tortured."
The Scranton Times-Tribune interviewed numerous experts who are deeply concerned about the effect of the crime on the little girl - especially since the attacker was a stranger.
An associate professor of nursing at Binghamton University and former University of Scranton educator who researched youth violence and sexual offenders, said that the majority of child sexual-assault victims are offen family members or friends and people who prey on children are usually sexually attracted to children, or are predators who use children because they are accessible and smaller. Others echo those observations, and the concerns for the child.
Jill Morris, communication director for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, said rape is a crime of violence, with any sexual gratification secondary to the assailant's power and control over the victim.
She said she would be "very skeptical" of Mr. Montoya's statement to Magisterial District Judge Alyce Farrell during his arraignment that he had never done "anything like this before."
"I would not be surprised if this person abused someone else," Ms. Morris said.
According to Lackawanna County First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico, the girl has been released from the hospital and is healing physically, but the rest will take longer. I am hoping that the girl sees how many people care about her, as Talerico says offers of help have been coming in from as far away as the West Coast, from restaurants to merchants to ordinary people who were affected by the story.
Mary Ann LaPorta, executive director of the advocacy center, which is also fielding many offers of assistance, said the facility's staff will see that contributed items are delivered to the family "in a very timely fashion."
She thinks the outpouring of sympathy and support for the child "is commensurate with the horrific circumstances" of the attack.
"It's a very sad story, and a very incomprehensible set of circumstances," she said.
I'm not going to go into Montoya's violent history in this diary, it's in the articles. I can't stand to even type his name. But suffice it to say he is a dangerous predator who makes me wretch. He is in this country legally if you were wondering.
This diary is about the trauma suffered by the little girl, and I sincerely hope that with enough support, the family can move out of their trailer and into a home and a fresh start. I don't know where the little girl is sleeping these days - and I doubt she's doing much sleeping at all. But I sincerely hope she isn't back in that bedroom, and I want her to have a new one, maybe with a pink princess canopy bed.
I hope you can help.
Cash donations may be made to The Marley Fund, c/o PNC Bank, 201 Penn Ave., Scranton, 18503.
Inquiries about non-monetary assistance should be directed to the DA's office, 570-963-6717, or the Children's Advocacy Center, 570-969-7313.
UPDATE 1: Kossacks are an awesome, generous and empathetic bunch.
UPDATE 2: below, madame defarge VERY KINDLY updated us on her phone call this morning with Cynthia from the Children's Advocacy Center in Scranton. madame defarge reports the following:
She suggested that for this particular family, the money to the Marley Fund would be best because they'll be able to purchase a new bed, bedding, curtains, etc to redo the little girl's room or if they have enough funds, to move the family to a new location. However, if we want to send toys/books/stuffed toys etc., they would most certainly welcome them & would distribute them appropriately. Their address is:
Children's Advocacy Center/NEPA
1710 Mulberry Street
Scranton, PA 18510
She also said:
This little girl's case is one of the most horrific they've received, but they do have others they are dealing with & do have financial needs.
They're a not-for-profit center that supports children from 0-18.
They receive NO state funding & rely completely on fundraising & grants to support their center.
Email Cynthia at: cynthia.pintha@cmchealthsys.org
Send them support - for children everywhere!
Thanks Kossacks!
UPDATE #3 -
Fund for rape victim collects $3,800 in less than a week
A fund established to benefit a 5-year-old girl who was raped, choked and brutalized at her Taylor home collected nearly $3,800 in its first week and is attracting interest beyond Northeast Pennsylvania.
Donations to the Marley Fund totaled $3,791 through Wednesday, said Mary Ann LaPorta, executive director of the Children's Advocacy Center, who called the response indicative of people's outrage over the crime and their empathy for the young victim.
"When you can't wrap your mind around the enormity of this thing, you can still wrap your arms around this child and her family, and that's what people are doing," Ms. LaPorta said.
I'm thrilled and so grateful to any and all of you who dug deep and helped this little girl. I hope the fund grows to be enough for a nice downpayment on a little house where they can make a fresh start. Thank you!