Anna Marie Arguello
Anna Marie lived with her mother, Anita Maria Vega, her stepfather, Luis Vega Sr., and six siblings, including her nine-year-old sister, Margarita, at the time of her disappearance. She disappeared sometime in the winter of 1969 - 1970 and has not been seen again.
Police were unaware of Anna Marie's disappearance until Margarita went to them in the autumn of 1992. By then she was 33 years old. Margarita stated her mother had severely beaten Anna Marie, deprived her of food, forced her to take a bath in cold water and held her head under the water until she drowned.
Several hours later, Anita wrapped Anna Marie's naked body in an Army blanket and put it in a cardboard box from the turkey farm where Luis worked. Luis took the box away after he came home from work. Margarita overheard him telling Anita he buried Anna Marie's body near the railroad trestles in Frankfort, which are known as "the viaducts."
In 1985, Anita showed Margarita a sack of dirt and bones and said they were Anna Marie's remains. Several months later, Margarita asked her mother what she'd done with the sack and Anita said she'd buried it at a fresh grave in the Bunnell Cemetery.
Margarita told police she hadn't come forward before because her mother had threatened to kill her. She went to law enforcement with her story after spending a month in a California mental health facility getting treatment for anxiety.
Margarita had talked about her sister's death during therapy sessions at the facility, and the staff told her that if she didn't report what had happened, they would. She took a polygraph about her statement, but the results were inconclusive. Police went to the Bunnell Cemetery and sifted through the dirt at the grave Margarita indicated, but found only turkey bones.
When police investigated Margarita's claims, they could find very little evidence for Anna Marie's existence, only her birth certificate and a single photograph of her. Anita's other children denied Margarita's story, and one of them, Guadalupe Thomas, was ultimately indicted for lying to authorities; she had told a grand jury she didn't remember her mother forcing the children to take cold baths as punishment.
Thomas pleaded guilty to perjury and agreed to testify against Anita at her trial. A photograph of Anita is posted with this case summary. She was charged with involuntary manslaughter in October 1993. Luis died in the mid-1980s, before police realized his role in covering up his stepdaughter's death.
When questioned by police, Anita at first denied Anna Marie's existence. After police confronted her with the child's birth certificate, she changed her story and implied that Margarita had killed the child.
When police pointed out that Margarita had only been nine years old at the time, Anita said Luis had killed Anna Marie, then changed her story again and said she found Anna Marie dead in bed. She stated she had kept the death a secret because Luis, whom she claimed was abusive, had threatened her. Luis, she said, was afraid he would be deported to Mexico if they reported Anna Marie's death.
At Anita's trial, Margarita testified about witnessing her sister's murder and Thomas partially corroborated the story, saying she had seen Anna Marie's body. Anita's attorney suggested Margarita had made up the murder story to get revenge on her mother for not supporting her when she told her Luis had sexually abused her.
Anita was convicted; the jury deliberated only 15 minutes before bringing in the guilty verdict. She was sentenced to one to ten years in prison and served three. Her other children supported her and are now estranged from Margarita. Anna Marie's body has never been found. Anna Marie Arguello – The Charley Project
Daughter With Nightmares Helps to Convict Mother of a Killing
By The Associated Press Aug. 7, 1994
After being tormented by nightmares in which she saw the pleading face of her long-dead little sister, Margarita Booth accused her own mother of killing the toddler 25 years ago. Her testimony led to the conviction of Mrs. Booth's mother, Anita Vega, on involuntary manslaughter charges a week ago. "It's hard to think of her sleeping on a metal bed, not being able to come and go as she pleases," Mrs. Booth said of her mother this week. "But at the same time, just because she's my mom doesn't mean she has the right to pick and choose when someone dies. And just because she's my mom doesn't mean she shouldn't be punished." Mrs. Booth, a 33-year-old homemaker, told a jury that she saw her mother kill Anna Marie Arguello in their house in nearby Frankfort, Ind., in 1969 by beating the 2-year-old and forcing her to stay in a cold bath all day. The child was being punished for bedwetting. Mrs. Booth said she saw her stepfather, Luis Vega, take away Anna Marie's body. She never saw her sister again. Mrs. Booth did not go to police until 1992. She said she finally decided to come forward because she had recurring nightmares of "close-up shots of Anna Marie's face, pleading with me." "My purpose in telling was to make the nightmares go away and to fulfill a promise I had made to my sister when I had witnessed her death," she said. "That promise was someday I would go and find her and bring her back to give her a real burial." Coming forward, she said, "was very hard for me because it was going against everything that had been totally ingrained in me from the time I was a child, and that was 'Don't tell.' "The authorities said they would have had little to go on without Mrs. Booth's testimony. Mrs. Vega, 52, said that the toddler died a natural death and that her body was secretly buried because the family feared deportation to Mexico. No body was ever found, and the only evidence investigators could find that Anna Marie even existed was a birth certificate Mrs. Booth obtained from Michigan, where the child was born, and a picture of the toddler from an aunt in Ohio. Mr. Vega is now dead. "Margarita is a very believable person," said the prosecutor, Louis Evans. "From the outset, her only goal has been to find the body of her sister. She's not a vindictive person or a lunatic. She's as much a victim as her sister is. She's been living with the guilt for 25 years." At Mrs. Vega's trial, the defense attacked Mrs. Booth's credibility by pointing out inconsistencies between her statements in court and in her testimony before a grand jury. The defense lawyer, Michael Troemel, told the jury that Mrs. Booth had made up the story because she was upset that her mother had not supported her when she accused Mr. Vega of molesting her. The jury took 45 minutes to return the guilty verdict. When Mrs. Vega is sentenced on Aug. 25, she could get up to 10 years in prison. Mr. Troemel said his client would appeal. Mrs. Booth said the price of her action has been alienation from her nine sisters and brothers, three of whom are in jail. One sister, Mary Fickle, said after Mrs. Vega's conviction: "I hope my ex-sister is happy. You couldn't ask for a better mother." Mrs. Booth, holding hands with her husband of seven years, Jim, said her mother "took my innocence." "Innocence comes from knowing that no matter what happens in life you can always run to your parents and they'll love you and accept you and protect you unconditionally," she said. But after what she witnessed, she said she concluded: "Anything's possible, so therefore you don't trust anyone. If you don't trust your mom, who can you trust?"
Daughter With Nightmares Helps to Convict Mother of a Killing (Published 1994)
Here you can find the whole story of what happened to Anna. VEGA v. STATE | 656 N.E.2d 497 (1995) | e2d49711135 | Leagle.com
- Missing Since 11/01/1969
- Missing From Frankfort, Indiana
- Classification Endangered Missing
- Sex Female
- Race Native American
- Date of Birth 09/12/1967 (53)
- Age2 years old
- Height and Weight Unknown
- Distinguishing Characteristics Native American female. Dark brown hair, brown eyes. Anna Marie had a full set of teeth at the time of her disappearance.
Anna Marie lived with her mother, Anita Maria Vega, her stepfather, Luis Vega Sr., and six siblings, including her nine-year-old sister, Margarita, at the time of her disappearance. She disappeared sometime in the winter of 1969 - 1970 and has not been seen again.
Police were unaware of Anna Marie's disappearance until Margarita went to them in the autumn of 1992. By then she was 33 years old. Margarita stated her mother had severely beaten Anna Marie, deprived her of food, forced her to take a bath in cold water and held her head under the water until she drowned.
Several hours later, Anita wrapped Anna Marie's naked body in an Army blanket and put it in a cardboard box from the turkey farm where Luis worked. Luis took the box away after he came home from work. Margarita overheard him telling Anita he buried Anna Marie's body near the railroad trestles in Frankfort, which are known as "the viaducts."
In 1985, Anita showed Margarita a sack of dirt and bones and said they were Anna Marie's remains. Several months later, Margarita asked her mother what she'd done with the sack and Anita said she'd buried it at a fresh grave in the Bunnell Cemetery.
Margarita told police she hadn't come forward before because her mother had threatened to kill her. She went to law enforcement with her story after spending a month in a California mental health facility getting treatment for anxiety.
Margarita had talked about her sister's death during therapy sessions at the facility, and the staff told her that if she didn't report what had happened, they would. She took a polygraph about her statement, but the results were inconclusive. Police went to the Bunnell Cemetery and sifted through the dirt at the grave Margarita indicated, but found only turkey bones.
When police investigated Margarita's claims, they could find very little evidence for Anna Marie's existence, only her birth certificate and a single photograph of her. Anita's other children denied Margarita's story, and one of them, Guadalupe Thomas, was ultimately indicted for lying to authorities; she had told a grand jury she didn't remember her mother forcing the children to take cold baths as punishment.
Thomas pleaded guilty to perjury and agreed to testify against Anita at her trial. A photograph of Anita is posted with this case summary. She was charged with involuntary manslaughter in October 1993. Luis died in the mid-1980s, before police realized his role in covering up his stepdaughter's death.
When questioned by police, Anita at first denied Anna Marie's existence. After police confronted her with the child's birth certificate, she changed her story and implied that Margarita had killed the child.
When police pointed out that Margarita had only been nine years old at the time, Anita said Luis had killed Anna Marie, then changed her story again and said she found Anna Marie dead in bed. She stated she had kept the death a secret because Luis, whom she claimed was abusive, had threatened her. Luis, she said, was afraid he would be deported to Mexico if they reported Anna Marie's death.
At Anita's trial, Margarita testified about witnessing her sister's murder and Thomas partially corroborated the story, saying she had seen Anna Marie's body. Anita's attorney suggested Margarita had made up the murder story to get revenge on her mother for not supporting her when she told her Luis had sexually abused her.
Anita was convicted; the jury deliberated only 15 minutes before bringing in the guilty verdict. She was sentenced to one to ten years in prison and served three. Her other children supported her and are now estranged from Margarita. Anna Marie's body has never been found. Anna Marie Arguello – The Charley Project
Daughter With Nightmares Helps to Convict Mother of a Killing
By The Associated Press Aug. 7, 1994
After being tormented by nightmares in which she saw the pleading face of her long-dead little sister, Margarita Booth accused her own mother of killing the toddler 25 years ago. Her testimony led to the conviction of Mrs. Booth's mother, Anita Vega, on involuntary manslaughter charges a week ago. "It's hard to think of her sleeping on a metal bed, not being able to come and go as she pleases," Mrs. Booth said of her mother this week. "But at the same time, just because she's my mom doesn't mean she has the right to pick and choose when someone dies. And just because she's my mom doesn't mean she shouldn't be punished." Mrs. Booth, a 33-year-old homemaker, told a jury that she saw her mother kill Anna Marie Arguello in their house in nearby Frankfort, Ind., in 1969 by beating the 2-year-old and forcing her to stay in a cold bath all day. The child was being punished for bedwetting. Mrs. Booth said she saw her stepfather, Luis Vega, take away Anna Marie's body. She never saw her sister again. Mrs. Booth did not go to police until 1992. She said she finally decided to come forward because she had recurring nightmares of "close-up shots of Anna Marie's face, pleading with me." "My purpose in telling was to make the nightmares go away and to fulfill a promise I had made to my sister when I had witnessed her death," she said. "That promise was someday I would go and find her and bring her back to give her a real burial." Coming forward, she said, "was very hard for me because it was going against everything that had been totally ingrained in me from the time I was a child, and that was 'Don't tell.' "The authorities said they would have had little to go on without Mrs. Booth's testimony. Mrs. Vega, 52, said that the toddler died a natural death and that her body was secretly buried because the family feared deportation to Mexico. No body was ever found, and the only evidence investigators could find that Anna Marie even existed was a birth certificate Mrs. Booth obtained from Michigan, where the child was born, and a picture of the toddler from an aunt in Ohio. Mr. Vega is now dead. "Margarita is a very believable person," said the prosecutor, Louis Evans. "From the outset, her only goal has been to find the body of her sister. She's not a vindictive person or a lunatic. She's as much a victim as her sister is. She's been living with the guilt for 25 years." At Mrs. Vega's trial, the defense attacked Mrs. Booth's credibility by pointing out inconsistencies between her statements in court and in her testimony before a grand jury. The defense lawyer, Michael Troemel, told the jury that Mrs. Booth had made up the story because she was upset that her mother had not supported her when she accused Mr. Vega of molesting her. The jury took 45 minutes to return the guilty verdict. When Mrs. Vega is sentenced on Aug. 25, she could get up to 10 years in prison. Mr. Troemel said his client would appeal. Mrs. Booth said the price of her action has been alienation from her nine sisters and brothers, three of whom are in jail. One sister, Mary Fickle, said after Mrs. Vega's conviction: "I hope my ex-sister is happy. You couldn't ask for a better mother." Mrs. Booth, holding hands with her husband of seven years, Jim, said her mother "took my innocence." "Innocence comes from knowing that no matter what happens in life you can always run to your parents and they'll love you and accept you and protect you unconditionally," she said. But after what she witnessed, she said she concluded: "Anything's possible, so therefore you don't trust anyone. If you don't trust your mom, who can you trust?"
Daughter With Nightmares Helps to Convict Mother of a Killing (Published 1994)
Here you can find the whole story of what happened to Anna. VEGA v. STATE | 656 N.E.2d 497 (1995) | e2d49711135 | Leagle.com
