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Victim of 'sadistic torture' in Wylie speaks out
For the first time publicly, Simone Valdez-Junkin is talking about her grooming, torture, and abuse at the hands of Alicia Calderon.
WYLIE, Texas - The victim of two years of torture and abuse is still living with the very real scars a Collin County woman gave her.
Simone Valdez-Junkin now lives in a safe house, but she faced her tormentor in court when she testified against Alicia Calderon.
Last week, Calderon was sentenced to 75 years in prison.
Valdez-Junkin remains on her path toward healing.
For the first time publicly, Valdez-Junkin is talking about her grooming and manipulation at the Calderons’ home.
Valdez-Junkin was tricked into living with a woman who she thought wanted to help her. Instead, she was tortured.
"My arms have this internal itch where I cannot itch it because it’s so deep in the nerves that there’s no relief," Valdez-Junkin said.
Scars on Valdez-Junkin’s arms tell a story of sadistic torture.
"And then, the next thing I know, she dumped the water on me," she recalled.
Boiling water tossed on her for eating food.
Collin County mom gets 75 years in prison for 'sadistic torture' of another woman
Prosecutors said Alicia Calderon tricked a young woman into moving in with her to help clean the house, take care of the kids and care for an elderly woman. Two years later, the tortured victim weighed just 68 pounds and her body was covered in severe burns.
"And there were times where I was digging through the trash just to get food," she said.
Valdez-Junkin went down to 68 pounds.
The now 27-year-old was tortured for more than two years, mostly inside a trailer in Wylie, by Calderon.
[REPORTER: "Did you look to her as a mentor?"]
"I would say yeah, at the time, because we were really, honestly, friends," she said.
[REPORTER: "And you thought she had your best interest at heart?"]
"Yeah," she answered.
In 2019, in exchange for free rent, Valdez-Junkin agreed to move into Calderon’s trailer to clean and care for Calderon’s children and a disabled elderly woman.
"I was doing all these things by myself," Valdez-Junkin said.
[REPORTER: "And in the meantime, this couple…was stealing money secretly from this elderly woman?"]
"Yes," she replied.
Prosecutors say Calderon stole $80,000 from the elderly woman. Her husband awaits trial for similar charges.
For the first time publicly, Valdez-Junkin is talking about her grooming and manipulation at the Calderons’ home.
[REPORTER: "You felt like you were brainwashed?"]
"Yes, but I didn’t realize that until a couple years into it," she recalled. "Your family’s against you. Your friends are against you. Everybody’s kind of against you, and that they’re the only person there that can really help."
Year one was mostly emotional abuse, but then year two became physical.
"They had been actually starving me, secretly," she said.
She was often locked inside a room in the trailer. Sometimes, she was locked in a dog cage.
"She knocked me unconscious a couple times," Valdez-Junkin said.
[REPORTER: "Did you ever think about running away?"]
"There were plenty of times like that," she said.
On February 1, 2022, Valdez-Junkin was able to get ahold of a phone to message her family for help.
Her family had no idea what she had been through. They thought she had simply wanted to be on her own.
Deputies had to remove stones from a trailer door to get her.
Her burns were untreated and her 68-pound-body was failing.
"And honestly, through all this, God was my savior. God gave me that opportunity and that moment to get out," Valdez-Junkin said.
Valdez-Junkin believes there are certainly others in the world held in torturous situations.
"You have the strength or courage to get out," she said.
That’s why she wants the world to see her scars.
"For me, I think it’s a reminder of not only what happened, but just kind of what I’ve overcome," she added.
Valdez-Junkin said she wants to write a book about her story.