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Mother sentenced to 45 years in prison for torture death of 5-year-old daughter

Katrina Mendoza and her ex-boyfriend Jose Ruiz are charged in February 2022 death of Mercedes Losoya

SAN ANTONIO – A judge on Monday sentenced a woman to 45 years in prison in connection with the torture death of her 5-year-old daughter.

The sentence handed down by 187th District Court Judge Stephanie Boyd was the maximum punishment allowed for Katrina Mendoza, who accepted a plea deal to a charge of injury of a child with serious bodily injury.

The defendant and her ex-boyfriend, Jose Ruiz, were convicted in the February 2022 death of Mercedes Losoya, who died from what officials said was called extreme physical abuse.

Ruiz was found guilty in March and was sentenced to life in prison. During Ruiz’s trial, Mendoza testified as a part of her plea deal.

Defense attorney Todd McCray asked Boyd to sentence Mendoza to probation, saying that his client “needs psychological help, and prison time will not help her to do that.”

“She feels like God has abandoned her ... she’s depressed ... her heart’s broken,” McCray said.

He added that Mendoza testifying against Ruiz was “one way that she could take a step forward and be a better person.”

But the state said that Mendoza knew about the abuse, saw it happen, and even “invited” Ruiz to discipline Mercedes.

“She left a full house of family who loved those girls, who chose to take them back to Jose,” prosecutor Brittany Mitchell said. “She blatantly avoided CPS. She didn’t allow the girls to go to school to avoid CPS.”

The defendant’s father, Rudy Mendoza, testified that his daughter “was a loving mother” who had pictures of Mercedes and her sister “enjoying themselves” and who looked “happy” in photos. He asked God to “have mercy upon her and compassion” because “young kids do wrong things.”

Rudy Mendoza testified that he never met Ruiz and didn’t know that his daughter was living with him and her daughters.

Homer Beltran, the defendant’s godfather, testified that Katrina Mendoza and her daughters lived off and on with him and considered the defendant his daughter and the girls his grandchildren.

Beltran said the children “never lacked” anything and “always had what they needed.” Beltran said he never saw the defendant abuse her daughters and was upset when Ruiz took Mercedes in January 2022.

“My spirit told me that she was in danger,” he testified, adding that he told the defendant to be “careful before something bad would happen.”

While Katrina Mendoza had little reaction when Boyd announced her sentence, she broke down and cried when Mercedes’ great-grandmother read a victim impact statement from the victim’s older sister.

“Grandma, I don’t understand why we didn’t leave Jose. Grandma, I’m so afraid she (the defendant) will come and take me away,” the statement read.

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About the Authors
Erica Hernandez headshot

Erica Hernandez is an Emmy award-winning journalist with 15 years of experience in the broadcast news business. Erica has covered a wide array of stories all over Central and South Texas. She's currently the court reporter and cohost of the podcast Texas Crime Stories.

Misael Gomez headshot

Misael started at KSAT-TV as a photojournalist in 1987.

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