Hortencia Mata murdered in 1982

I was married to Jesse for 2 years. His mother caused our divorce in 1970.

Recently I found out she died in 1982. She was murdered.

Her nude beaten body was found under a bridge in Corpus Christ, Texas.

I finally found a copy of the obituary proving it was her.

Now, all this is a bit awful. Well, a lot more than a bit. It is terrifyingly, strangely bizzare.

I cannot imagine my own mother beaten and killed and her body dumped under a bridge.

In 2005, it was still considered an unsolved crime and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times profiled it in one sentence:

"Hortencia Obregon Mata, 53, was found beaten and nude under the south end of the Harbor Bridge on April 21, 1982."

My sadness is for Jesse, Lydia, and the other 4 children. Apparently, Jesse Sr. was living in Madera, Ca.

I would contact Jesse, but for what reason? He deserted me in 1970 to go live with Mother and left me for her. And, of course, there was the drinking and womanizing.
I hitchhiked all the way to Sinton, Texas to see him. His sister showed up at the pool hall where I found him and told me to get the hell out of town.

Thankfully, his cousin took me in to stay with her and her mother, Virginia, and grandmother. Hortenica retaliated by hiring a witch to put a curse on me. Virginia had hired another witch to take the spell off me.

I woke up one morning with a witch dancing around my head. That was the one taking the curse off.

Curiously, I have never figured out for sure whether Hortencia was a witch herself. I know I considered her the word that rhymes with it.

She broke me and her son up because I was white and he was Mexican. She could not see us together because I had been married before I married her boy.

Well, time moves on and witches who hire people to curse others end up dead - their nude beaten bodies abandoned beneath a bridge.

I quickly ask God to forgive me for any ill feelings I harbor or any wrong doing on my part. I don't want curses to follow me or be brought down on my house or loved ones because of all this evil so many, many years ago.

And, truly, may you rest in peace, Mrs. Hortencia Mata.

The picture is of me in 1970 holding my niece. Jesse and I had just divorced.