At first, Julian Gomez seemed like a nice guy, going so far as to fix a few things on her car, Maria Quinonez said. Then, he changed.
According to Quinonez, Gomez, 37, kidnapped her at gunpoint on June 3, 2020. Tuesday was the first day of Gomez’s trial on an aggravated kidnapping charge in the 70th Ector County District Court.
Quinonez, a single mother of three girls, told jurors Gomez send her a friend request on Facebook in the latter part of 2019 and they quickly began exchanging instant messages and texts. They met in person in February 2020 and became intimate toward the end of March, although they weren’t seeing each other exclusively, she said.
Because she’d been the victim of domestic violence in the past, Quinonez, 39, said she was wary about bringing new men around her children until she felt she knew them. During the beginning of her relationship with Gomez, Quinonez said she mostly went with him to his RV in Midland.
As time went on, Quinonez changed from being a nice person to being short-tempered. She told jurors he began cursing her out a lot and showing up unannounced at her house and at her friends’ homes. He would also text her things like, “I can see your car” and instruct her to go home.
When he showed up unannounced, he’d demand she come out to his car to talk.
“He used my past against me. He knew I didn’t like confrontations in front of my kids and he’d say if I didn’t want my kids to see that I needed to get into his car to talk,” Quinonez said.
In May, Quinonez said she decided to end the relationship after discovering him smoking methamphetamine with the girlfriend of one of his friends. She told his friend about the incident and that set Gomez off, Quinonez said. He began sending her dozens and dozens of expletive-laced texts and voice messages telling her he was going to kill her for ruining his life.
Everytime she blocked the call, Gomez would just call and text from a new number, she told Assistant Ector County Attorney Kortney Williams.
One day, Gomez showed up at her home and fearing for her safety and that of her kids, Quinonez said she got into his car. He took her to his home and over the next several hours Gomez would go back and forth from telling her he loved her to threatening her life, all while working on two guns, Quinonez said.
He tried to rip off her clothes at one point, but then changed his mind, she said.
“I guess he felt bad,” but then would say “Look what you made me do,” she said.
In order to calm him down and convince him to take her home, Quinonez testified she apologized for actions, said she loved him and assured them they could “fix” their relationship.
“I didn’t think I was going to get out of there.”
She told jurors Gomez made her smoke methamphetamine with him so she could no longer paint him as a bad guy.
When Gomez went to the restroom, she ran outside and hid in the bushes, but gave herself up because he’d gotten in his car to look for her and it became clear to her he wasn’t going to give up searching for her, Quinonez said.
He eventually took her home, but over the following weeks he continued to cyber stalk her relentlessly. He repeatedly threatened to burn down her house with her kids inside, she said.
On June 3, 2020, Quinonez said she was driving to her south side home from a friend’s house on East 35th Street when Gomez suddenly appeared next to her car in his car, cut her off, pointed a gun at her and told her to pull over.
She obliged, because “I was afraid he was going to shoot,” she testified.
During the drive to his home in Midland, he held a gun to her head and fired it out the passenger side window in front of her face, later telling her he was using blanks. He demanded to see her phone and she threw it away, she said.
She again managed to convince him that she loved him and she would meet him later that day. Convinced, he dropped her off at her car shortly after 5 a.m., Quinonez said.
She found her phone, called her daughters and told them to get out of the house. Her son was at his father’s.
She later drove to the Odessa Police Department to make a report.
That day, Quinonez said she again began receiving dozens and dozens of texts from various phones threatening her life, her children’s lives and the lives of friends she was staying with. She made screen shots of many of the messages and she read them for jurors.
“I’m not going to stop being crazy or nothing until you put my heart to rest,” read one text.
Many of the texts blasted Quinonez for lying to him about her love for him.
“If you’re scared, you’re going to be more scared if you don’t show up at 4 p.m.,” read one.
“If you keep messing with Azul, I’ll make sure he doesn’t see you again,” read another.
“By tomorrow, your life better change up,” said one text.
“If you press charges, your life is only going to get worse,” said another.
During cross-examination from defense attorney Luis Chavez, Quinonez denied being a drinker or being drunk the night of the alleged kidnapping. She acknowledged she did not call 911 at several points during that night despite Chavez’s suggestion that she could have.
She also acknowledged she didn’t go to OPD until 2 p.m. that day, despite the fact she says Gomez forced her to park her car just seven blocks from the station and he dropped her off at the same location.
During opening statements, law school student Antonio Chavez, who also represents Gomez, told jurors prosecutors will not be able to prove Gomez had a gun that night or that he forced Quinonez to go with him. He said Quinonez went willingly with Gomez because she didn’t want to return home to her children.
