NICOLE GARCIA - 3 yo (3/2011) - Nantucket/ Cape Cod MA

Nantucket recoiled in horror as word leaked from the police about the details surrounding a child who passed away Monday.
Dora Alicia Tejada Pleitez, 26, of 13B Pine Tree
Road in Nantucket was taken in for questioning after her three year old
daughter passed away. It was what turned up during questioning that
really shocked the island.
Dora, who is from El Salvador, began singing and chanting while being
questioned. She expressed a belief that God could speak through her.
Then she dropped the bombshell. God had told her that her daughter would
be possessed by the devil unless the child had a rose stuck down her
throat.
At 1:18 PM, Nicole Garcia was pronounced dead at
Nantucket Cottage Hospital. We're not sure if she choked on the rose, or
if one was found in her throat during the medial examination.

Left alone in the interview room, Dora assumed
a crucifixion pose for several minutes, became agitated, and tried to
leave the room.
Dora originally told a tale of falling off the couch while holding
her daughter, then waking up with people asking if she/someone had hurt
Nicole. At the police station, this story began to unravel.
Left alone in the police interview room, she assumed a crucifixion
pose for several minutes. She became agitated during questioning, and
tried to leave. Police noticed a wound on her hand, and she was taken to
the hospital for medical attention.
While they were treating her, a priest/translator was brought in. It
was then that Dora revealed that God had told her that demons were in
the child. The only way to get them out was to jam a rose down her
throat. Rose petals were found on the scene.
Dora also mentioned that, at some point, she realized she was
sticking her fist in the child's throat instead of the rose. She blamed
the Devil for using Nicole to bite her.

An officer eavesdropped on the conversation between Dora and her
translator. I'm not sure if this will blow the case or not, nor do I
know whether her translator was the Priest who later told the press
basically the same rose-fist-throat story that the cop overheard. The
results of the mental health evaluation will go a long way towards
determining the character of the case brought against Dora.
Interviews with family members revealed that Dora had been on a
religious retreat recently. She felt that the Holy Spirit could speak
through her. Dora also had a longstanding belief that she could see the
dead. She claimed that Nicole resembled a dead relative.
She believed this to the extent that she had told family the child
was now to be called "Maria Elena." That was the name of Dora's deceased
sister, and Dora saw a resemblance between Nicole and Maria.
Dora's sister-in-law first realized something was up after repeatedly
being called into the room to pray, and called Dora's brother to the
scene. As he drove to the scene, he took a call from Dora where she said
that Maria Elena was in the room with her. The brother called in
authorities after arriving and realizing that the child- who Dora would
not let anyone see- was dead.
A rose (or garlic) shoved into the throat is a purported folk remedy
for vampirism, we should add. It makes the blood bitter, and drives off
the spook. These particular vampire-slaying beliefs are more commonly
held among rural/Gypsy people in Romania. To be fair to the Catholics,
no rite of Exorcism recognized by the Church involves jamming a
rose/fist down a child's throat.

Dora is being held pending a mental competency evaluation. She is not
being allowed bail, and will be charged with murder. She was taken
off-island for her examination, most likely to the mental health unit at
Barnstable Hospital. An insanity defense seems likely.
http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2011/03/17/child-murdered-during-exorcism?blog=233

The mother charged in the death of her
3-year-old daughter told a pastor and hospital officials that she shoved
a rose down her daughter’s throat to rid the child of demons, and that
God told her to do it, according to court records.
Dora Alicia Tejada Pleitez then told her
pastor that at one point she realized the rose was actually her fist,
and that “the devil’’ bit her hand through her daughter, according to
the records. The daughter, Nicole Garcia, was pronounced dead at 1:18
p.m. Monday at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, less than an hour after
police were notified.
Tejada Pleitez was charged with murder in Nantucket District Court on Tuesday.
She was ordered held without bail pending a hearing to determine
whether she is competent to understand the charge. She is to return to court Monday.
Detectives said in court records that they found several pink roses and rose petals
on the floor of Tejada Pleitez’s living room, where the child was
found. Hospital officials said they found no other signs of physical
abuse on Nicole, according to court records. Tejada Pleitez also had a
wound on her hand that resembled a bite mark, according to police reports.
It was not clear yesterday what caused the child’s death. A spokeswoman for the Cape and
Islands district attorney would not discuss autopsy results.
Tejada Pleitez is a native of El Salvador, and the killing shocked a close-knit immigrant community on the island.
Tejada Pleitez initially told authorities that she and her daughter had fallen
asleep together on the couch. At one point, she and Nicole fell to the
floor, and all she remembered was people taking the girl from her,
according to a police report.
She also told authorities that her sister-in-law had given her candy to
give to Nicole and her toddler son, Luis, who was also by her side.
But the sister-in-law, Deonila Tema, told authorities that the passing of
candy never happened, and that she was scared because Tejada Pleitez was
acting strangely, the police report stated. Tema said Tejada Pleitez
kept asking her to pray for her, and that she was “asking for mercy for
her and her children,’’ according to court records.
Tema left the house to call her husband, Amilear Tejada, Tejada Pleitez’s
brother, asking him to come home. On the way, he told authorities, he
called his sister, who told him that they needed to pray and that their
third sibling, Maria Elena, was in the room with her. Maria Elena died
several years ago, according to court records.
Amilear Tejada also told authorities that his sister Tejada Pleitez has said
several times before that she has been “given a gift by God that allowed
her to see people that passed away.’’
When Amilear Tejada arrived at his sister’s home, he found her on the couch
with Nicole unresponsive in her arms. She told him that Nicole’s face
looked like Maria Elena’s, and she would not let him take her daughter
from her arms, the report said.
Amilear Tejada called other family members, including the girl’s father, Juan Garcia, and the family pastor.
Family members then tried unsuccessfully to administer the child first aid.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Children and Families said the agency had no history with the family.
Tejada Pleitez’s son was in the custody of his father.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/17/mother_charged_with_murder_in_death_of_girl_3/

http://home.conservativebabylon.com/2012/02/16/self-appointed-exorcist-dora-alicia-tejada-pleitez-fit-to-stand-trial/

Self-Appointed Exorcist Dora Alicia Tejada Pleitez Fit to Stand Trial



The accused baby-killer you see at left is El Salvadoran-born Dora Alicia Tejada Pleitez, 26, of Nantucket, Massachusetts, who reportedly says she can see dead people (a “gift from God”), channels the Holy Spirit, and that God told her to jam a rose — which turned out to be her fist — down her three-year-old daughter’s throat to in an attempt to exorcise “the devil” from the child, killing her in the process.

The initial police report notes that while alone in the interview room of the Nantucket Police Department, Tejada “placed her arms out in a cross like [sic] manner and stood there for several moments. …

An officer then noticed an injury on Tejada’s hand, and she was treated by medical personnel. “On March 15, 2011, Lieutenant Christopher Mason interviewed Pastor Carlos Patinovilla,” who said he spoke with Tejada just after the death of her daughter. “Patinovilla stated that D. Tejada told him that she … was forcing a rose down Nicole’s throat in an effort to ward off the devil,” then “realized the rose was actually her fist and that ‘the devil’ bit her hand through Nicole.”

Tejada was arrested and charged with the little girl’s death in March, 2011; on February 10, 2012, she was found competent to stand trial.