KMAX: News of the West

Kidnapped San Jose girl's trauma leaves family seeking help

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) After initially declining offers of outside financial and emotional support, the mother of a 9-year-old San Jose girl who was kidnapped and sexually assaulted by a stranger says her daughter's fragile condition has convinced her the family needs help.

Roselia Tamayo said her daughter has had to go to a hospital emergency room several times since she talked her way out of her ordeal on June 8. The trauma of being taken from her home and raped repeatedly during her 2{ days as a captive has caused the girl to shake with fever and pain, and she can't sleep through the night without medication, Tamayo said.

``She cries; she gets angry; she's in shock,'' Tamayo said of her daughter in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News. ``She wants her life back like before, but she can't.''

On Monday, Tamayo opened a bank account at Washington Mutual and said she would be grateful for donations to her daughter and to help pay the family's mounting medical bills. They have no health insurance and are paying all the expenses on their own, but Tamayo told the Mercury News she does not feel she can leave her daughter to return to her landscaping job with a construction company.

The suspect, Enrique Sosa Alvarez, allegedly tied up the girl in her San Jose house, beat her mother and brother when they tried to rescue her, and threatened to kill her several times, according to a police report. The 23-year-old has been charged with nine felony counts including rape, sexual assault, assault and burglary charges that could send him to prison for up to 115 years.

In the first few days after the girl talked her abductor into dropping her off at a liquor store, Tamayo said her daughter's safe return was all she needed. Since then, she said, it has become apparent that the family needs to move to get away from the painful memories. Tamayo also hopes to send her daughter, whose name and photograph were widely publicized before anyone knew she was a rape victim, to a private school where she would be less likely to meet with teasing.

On Monday, an advocate from the state-funded Victim/Witness Assistance Center visited the Tamayo family. Once they apply to the center, they could receive reimbursements within a few weeks. But between dealing with personal shock, caring for a traumatized youngster, and waiting in emergency rooms, Tamayo said, she has not had time to seek reimbursements.

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