Rape Victim, 12, Describes Horrific Attack

A 12-year-old girl testified Wednesday in the trial against two men accused of raping her. The girl was on her way to school in February when she says the men grabbed her off the street and drove her to an abandoned house off Orange Blossom Trail, where they repeatedly attacked and raped her.

The girl did not want to look at her attackers while in court. The 12-year-old held up well during her testimony, she said one of her accused attackers pulled her cap over her eyes after taking her into the backseat at knifepoint and kept it like that the whole time.

In an effort to calm the 12-year-old rape victim, prosecutors brought in a golden retriever lab mix and he stayed where she could see him the whole time she was on the witness stand.

When she first walked into the courtroom the victim looked at the backs of the defendants but once the three of them were face-to-face, she never looked at them.

She described the terrifying start to a horrific attack.

“He grabbed me by my neck and put a knife to my throat,” said the victim. “He told me to get in the car. I was crying. He told me if I didn't get in he'll kill me. I was crying.”

She says the men took her to a vacant house and both raped her. Afterward, they told her to get dressed. Then they got back in the car and dropped her off on the street.

“He told me to get out,” she said. “They drove out really fast.”

She had to knock on two doors before someone answered and called for help.

When investigators publicized the address of the vacant house, someone recognized it and knew who had lived there, which lead investigators to Richard Morales-Marin and Juan Hernandez-Monzalvo.

Investigators found them at the vacant house where she was raped, along with a butterfly necklace she was wearing that day.

Hernandez-Monzalvo's wife recognized the sketch that was released as Morales-Marin (watch interview). The wife did not find out until later that her husband was also involved in the incident.

The two men are being tried together by the same jury of six.

Eyewitness News learned Hernandez-Monzalvo was trying to get deported again to avoid the trial. He returned to the U.S. after being deported in 2008.

Previous Stories: February 12, 2009: Wife Turns In Suspects In Rape Of 11-Year-Old Girl February 9, 2009: Search For Suspects Who Raped Girl Continues February 6, 2009: Sheriff's Sketch Artist Talks About Working With Young Rape Victim February 6, 2009: Parents On Edge After Rape Of 11-Year-Old February 5, 2009: Sketch Released In Rape Of 11-Year-Old Girl