‘She Was Terrified of Him’

For authorities investigating the disappearance of Adriana Galindo and her daughters, what happened March 6 was the denouement of a violent relationship.

Authorities say that on that day, Jose Delacruz tracked down Galindo and the couple’s two children at her aunt’s home in Lomita--the day after being convicted of spousal abuse.

Superior Court Judge Melvin Sandvig had just ordered Delacruz to serve six months in jail, but had released him to get his financial business in order, a spokeswoman for the city attorney’s office said. Delacruz, who had pleaded no contest to the charge, was scheduled to report to jail May 29.

Instead, sheriff’s detectives say, Delacruz, his 19-year-old son, Alejo, from a previous marriage and a man authorities have not identified barged into the home of Galindo’s aunt and kidnapped the 27-year-old woman and daughters Gypsy, 3, and Ariane, 1.

Six months earlier, Galindo had left her Pacoima home with her daughters for a shelter, hoping that Delacruz, a 39-year-old construction worker, wouldn’t catch up with her, family members said.

“She was terrified of him,” said Silvia Martinez, Galindo’s aunt.

Martinez said her niece, a native of Durango, Mexico, was a teenager when she met Delacruz in the Van Nuys apartment building where they both lived. They lived together off and on for nine years, though they never married.

The aunt and other family members said she fled from him several times but always returned.

Julio Delacruz, who shared a Pacoima home with his older brother, said he never witnessed any abuse of Galindo, although he knew she had filed complaints with the police. But the latest incident, he said, was “not a kidnapping; this is a rescue.”

Julio Delacruz said he was surprised by media reports that his brother was suspected of kidnapping Galindo and the children. He said that on March 5, the day before the family disappeared, Galindo called Jose Delacruz and asked him to pick up her and the children because she feared her family might try to get legal custody of the children.

Martinez said the family had no such intentions. “That’s a lie,” she said.

Julio Delacruz said he has not heard from his brother and does not know where he is.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Jerry Kaono said Jose Delacruz has a “very violent history of domestic abuse.” Investigators said they fear for the safety of Galindo and her children.

According to court records, Delacruz was convicted in 1983 of felony domestic abuse of a previous wife and served a 16-month jail sentence.

“Of course, talking to both sides of the family, you get the ‘he said, she said’ that makes it look like a regular family fight,” Kaono said. “But from police records, court records and our interviews, we believe the story that the wife’s family is telling. This is a kidnapping and nothing less.”

Investigators say they don’t know where the family has gone, but they have asked the Border Patrol and the TV show “America’s Most Wanted” to help in the search.

Authorities said the latest incident could be tracked back to Oct.21, when Delacruz reportedly injured Galindo’s eardrum. She told police the next day, and Delacruz was arrested, said Ana Garcia, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, which prosecuted the misdemeanor case. The court issued a restraining order against him on Nov. 13.

Despite their past and her injuries, Galindo asked that charges against Delacruz be dropped and she refused to assist prosecutors, Garcia said.

Galindo and the girls moved into a battered women’s shelter, and Martinez said she did not hear from them for several months. Martinez said Galindo later told her that the shelter had arranged for them to relocate to Chicago, but that they turned back when they reached Colorado.

Back in Los Angeles, Galindo and her children stayed with a friend, Martinez said. But Jose Delacruz found them and brought them home. On March 1, Galindo fled with her daughters and called from a pay phone at Union Station, Martinez said. From there, they took a taxi to the aunt’s Lomita home, Martinez said.

“We thought [Delacruz] didn’t know where I lived,” Martinez said. “We thought she was safe.”

On March 6, Delacruz and the other two men arrived at the Lomita home, where Galindo and the girls were alone, authorities said.

A day later, police investigators went to the brothers’ home. In Mission Hills, near a relative’s home, police found Delacruz’s black 1995 Chevrolet Suburban, the car in which the the family had left the aunt’s house.

But there was no sign of Galindo and the children.

In the past, Delacruz has traveled far and long to find Galindo and his children, her relatives said.

After she left him about six years ago, he showed up at the home of her sister in the San Francisco Bay Area, her mother said. When he didn’t find her in Northern California, he went to Durango in central Mexico, meeting Galindo’s mother for the first time.

“I didn’t even know him. He said, ‘I came looking for Adriana,’” said Elia Martinez, 50. Galindo wasn’t in Mexico at the time, her mother said.

Elia Martinez, who now lives with her other daughter in the Bay Area, said she seldom heard from Galindo.

Both sides of the family said this latest episode has gone further than any of the previous breakups. To the Delacruzes, it is unusual that Jose has not returned or called home. The Martinezes say they are worried.

“I ask our father God to look over them,” Galindo’s mother said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department at (310) 539-1661.