CA KAYA CENTENO: Missing from Rohnert Park, CA - 2010-2012 - Age 8-10 - Reported in 2020

Authorities Search for North Bay Teen Who Went Missing as a Young Girl

Federal and local authorities are searching for an 18-year-old North Bay woman who went missing when she was a young girl, a report that was discovered only after Rohnert Park police began investigating a couple suspected of abusing two children, according to police.

www.nbcbayarea.com

Authorities Search for North Bay Teen Who Went Missing as a Young Girl

Federal and local authorities are searching for an 18-year-old North Bay woman who went missing when she was a young girl, a report that was discovered only after Rohnert Park police began investigating a couple suspected of abusing two children, according to police.

Kaya Centeno hasn't been seen or heard from for about 8-10 years, according to her younger sibilings, a 17-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy, who told investigators about their missing sister while being interviewed last month in the child abuse case against their adoptive parents, Gina and Jose Centeno of Rohnert Park, police said.

The children had been brought back from Mexico, where the Centenos took them about 18 months ago to live with extended family, police said. Upon interviewing the children, there were allegations of emotional, sexual and physical abuse that had occurred over an eight- to 10-year span, and a reference was made about their older "sister" Kaya who lived with them in Rohnert Park, police said.

The Centenos adopted Kaya and her two siblings in 2008, police said. Kaya, who may be going by the alias Kaya Whitney Kazzee, attended John Reed School in Rohnert Park but was removed during the 2010-2011 school year to be home schooled.

Adoptive parents of Rohnert Park teen last seen a decade ago charged with abuse

Sonoma County prosecutors charged Jose and Gina Centeno of Rohnert Park with the long-term abuse of two of their adopted teen children while a third teen remains missing.

www.pressdemocrat.com

Rohnert Park teen last seen a decade ago, adoptive parents charged with abuse

Rohnert Park police are searching for an 18-year-old girl not seen for nearly a decade, her disappearance only discovered recently when her adoptive parents came under investigation for allegedly abusing her two younger siblings.

Kaya Centeno’s younger sister and brother, ages 17 and 15, told police she was between 8 and 12 years old when they last saw her, police said. The younger children remained living with the couple, Jose and Gina Centeno of Rohnert Park, and endured years of abuse, according to police.

The Centanos were arrested Aug. 19 and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on $18 million bail. They have been charged with felony torture and other crimes, according to the 14-count complaint filed Aug. 20 in Sonoma County Superior Court.

Jose Centeno, 53, was also charged with an additional nine felony crimes for his suspected sexual abuse of the 17-year-old girl, who is referred to as Jane Doe #1 in the complaint. They face life sentences if convicted.

At the center of the case is the mystery of Kaya Centeno, who attended John Reed Elementary School until second grade, when she was taken out of school to be homeschooled, police said.

Rohnert Park police Sgt. Keith Astley said he hopes members of the public will come forward with information about her and help pinpoint a more precise time window for when she was last seen.

“We want to find Kaya,” Astley said. “We want to hear from anybody who knows Kaya. Have they seen Kaya? When was the last time they saw Kaya? Kaya was in the household and then she was not.”


Jose and Gina Centeno return to court Oct. 5 for a plea hearing, and they remain in jail without bail.

“We don’t know where Kaya is, and we want to find her,” Astley said.


MEDIA - KAYA CENTENO: Missing from Rohnert Park, CA since 2010-2012 - Age 8-10 - Reported in 2020

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Kaya's photo is shown age-progressed to 18 years. The date she went missing is an estimation, but Kaya has not been seen or heard from in approximately 8-10 years. She may go by the alias name Kaya Whitney Kazzee.

Missing Since: June 1, 2012
Missing From: Rohnert Park, CA
DOB: May 23, 2002
Age Now: 18
Sex: Female
Race: White
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 3'6"
Weight: 50 lbs

Have you seen this child? Kaya Marie Centeno

Missing From: Rohnert Park, CA. Missing Date: March 1, 2011. .

www.missingkids.org

 

[Guess Who]

I wonder when we will hear she was she taken out of school to hide abuse allegations.

 

[Kimster]

At least we have an idea of where she went missing. At first I thought she could be missing anywhere between California and Mexico.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Wow. So we have adoption, home schooling, Mexico, AND an eight to ten year old child who may use an "alias"?? What eight to ten year old uses an alias?

Felony torture?? That I have to admit is one I have rarely heard of or not sure I have. What it evokes in the mind makes me feel so heartbroken about these kids.

While there are great adoptive parents and great home schoolers, these two things also seem to be very common in too many of these child cases, something really needs to be done about screening adoptive parents and while I hate to see home schooling stopped and wouldn't want to see that, maybe there needs to be something to ensure the children are out and about and not just secluded and isolated, standards are met or something--I don't know. Some abuse these things for reasons. In general I hate more regulation and I think or hope most people are good and let them live their lives and raise their kids their way but when you see these things, clearly something is wrong and needs to be done...

Just my longwinded opinion. Just reading the posts. Haven't read the entire article yet.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

What eight to ten year old uses an alias?

Adopted ones. My guess is her "alias" name was just her last name prior to taking her adopted parents' name.

While there are great adoptive parents and great home schoolers, these two things also seem to be very common in too many of these child cases, something really needs to be done about screening adoptive parents and while I hate to see home schooling stopped and wouldn't want to see that, maybe there needs to be something to ensure the children are out and about and not just secluded and isolated, standards are met or something--I don't know. Some abuse these things for reasons.

With many schools closed, calls and reports to CPS are down. You'd think that would be a good thing. In general it would be. But it's not. Teachers and schools make the most reports to CPS. Which is why we so often see abused kids pulled out. And now without schools, so many children are stuck in situations they shouldn't be in.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Adopted ones. My guess is her "alias" name was just her last name prior to taking her adopted parents' name.


With many schools closed, calls and reports to CPS are down. You'd think that would be a good thing. In general it would be. But it's not. Teachers and schools make the most reports to CPS. Which is why we so often see abused kids pulled out. And now without schools, so many children are stuck in situations they shouldn't be in.

I see what you mean about the alias name. Alias seemed like a strange word to use by the news is all. It almost sounds as if she ran away and maybe used another name or could be using "her" other name. Actually I hope she ran away from that he77 and is surviving and alive somewhere but unlikely at the age she was.

Yes this whole Covid thing and isolation seems to have triggered some maybe of the recent crimes too. I agree with you that school is one out that abused kids have. Even if they don't tell or feel they can't get help, they have that time out of the home. And sad as it is, parents are going to be more stressed with children not in school and home more too. Many only can make ends meet because at school age they do not have to pay day care all year. We do not hear much about that but it has to be taking a toll on some, financially and otherwise.

As for home schooling, I think abusers use it to pull the kids out but I also know people who home school and their children excel and do it for the right reasons, they are still in activities outside the home and more.

I have wondered these past weeks or few months with all of the noncustodial parent or some such taking off with kids, we have seen quite a rash of them, is it possible they may have formerly had maybe court supervised visits but with Covid those workers were not available or doing that any longer so the visits had to stop? Or there was a custody suit going on and Covid stopped the court process so no hope in sight to see their child? A bit O/T but there just seem to be soooo many of those lately.

I don't want to sidetrack the thread so back to this case, most of what I said here would not apply to as this happened long ago. I think it unlikely this poor child is alive and these people sound like flat out monsters. And I have yet to read the full article.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

The Vanished: Search for girl no one knew was missing

Authorities in the US are searching for 18-year-old woman who went missing as a child - with no-one even realising she had been gone until now.

7news.com.au

The Vanished: Search for girl no one knew was missing

Authorities in the US are searching for 18-year-old woman who went missing as a child - with no-one even realising she had been gone until now.

The disappearance of Kaya Centeno has only been uncovered because her adoptive parents are being investigated for child abuse.

Kaya hasn’t been seen or heard from for about eight to 10 years, according to her younger siblings, a 17-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy.



The Centenos adopted Kaya and her two siblings in 2008, police said.

Kaya, who may be going by the alias Kaya Whitney Kazzee, attended John Reed School in Rohnert Park but was removed during the 2010-2011 school year to be homeschooled.

Detectives obtained search warrants for the Centenos’ Rohnert Park home and found evidence to corroborate the victims’ statements about abuse.

Gina and Jose Centeno were arrested, and each is being held in Sonoma County jail on $18 million bail.

Rohnert Park detectives are working with the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to locate Kaya.

 

[Mel70]

View attachment 6593 View attachment 6594

Authorities Search for North Bay Teen Who Went Missing as a Young Girl

Federal and local authorities are searching for an 18-year-old North Bay woman who went missing when she was a young girl, a report that was discovered only after Rohnert Park police began investigating a couple suspected of abusing two children, according to police.

www.nbcbayarea.com

Authorities Search for North Bay Teen Who Went Missing as a Young Girl

Federal and local authorities are searching for an 18-year-old North Bay woman who went missing when she was a young girl, a report that was discovered only after Rohnert Park police began investigating a couple suspected of abusing two children, according to police.

Kaya Centeno hasn't been seen or heard from for about 8-10 years, according to her younger sibilings, a 17-year-old girl and 15-year-old boy, who told investigators about their missing sister while being interviewed last month in the child abuse case against their adoptive parents, Gina and Jose Centeno of Rohnert Park, police said.

The children had been brought back from Mexico, where the Centenos took them about 18 months ago to live with extended family, police said. Upon interviewing the children, there were allegations of emotional, sexual and physical abuse that had occurred over an eight- to 10-year span, and a reference was made about their older "sister" Kaya who lived with them in Rohnert Park, police said.

The Centenos adopted Kaya and her two siblings in 2008, police said. Kaya, who may be going by the alias Kaya Whitney Kazzee, attended John Reed School in Rohnert Park but was removed during the 2010-2011 school year to be home schooled.

Adoptive parents of Rohnert Park teen last seen a decade ago charged with abuse

Sonoma County prosecutors charged Jose and Gina Centeno of Rohnert Park with the long-term abuse of two of their adopted teen children while a third teen remains missing.

www.pressdemocrat.com

Rohnert Park teen last seen a decade ago, adoptive parents charged with abuse

Rohnert Park police are searching for an 18-year-old girl not seen for nearly a decade, her disappearance only discovered recently when her adoptive parents came under investigation for allegedly abusing her two younger siblings.

Kaya Centeno’s younger sister and brother, ages 17 and 15, told police she was between 8 and 12 years old when they last saw her, police said. The younger children remained living with the couple, Jose and Gina Centeno of Rohnert Park, and endured years of abuse, according to police.

The Centanos were arrested Aug. 19 and booked into the Sonoma County Jail on $18 million bail. They have been charged with felony torture and other crimes, according to the 14-count complaint filed Aug. 20 in Sonoma County Superior Court.

Jose Centeno, 53, was also charged with an additional nine felony crimes for his suspected sexual abuse of the 17-year-old girl, who is referred to as Jane Doe #1 in the complaint. They face life sentences if convicted.

At the center of the case is the mystery of Kaya Centeno, who attended John Reed Elementary School until second grade, when she was taken out of school to be homeschooled, police said.

Rohnert Park police Sgt. Keith Astley said he hopes members of the public will come forward with information about her and help pinpoint a more precise time window for when she was last seen.

“We want to find Kaya,” Astley said. “We want to hear from anybody who knows Kaya. Have they seen Kaya? When was the last time they saw Kaya? Kaya was in the household and then she was not.”


Jose and Gina Centeno return to court Oct. 5 for a plea hearing, and they remain in jail without bail.

“We don’t know where Kaya is, and we want to find her,” Astley said.


MEDIA - KAYA CENTENO: Missing from Rohnert Park, CA since 2010-2012 - Age 8-10 - Reported in 2020

This is so outrageous. This poor little girl. Missing for at least 8 yrs?! I understand being taken out of school to be home schooled. This is a cover up for her being abused. But no one other than the siblings missed her? Other adults. What did you two do with her?!!!! They need to be required to answer! Another case of adoptive parents who obviously didn't adopt children to give them a good home but for money. Scumbags!!!

 

[Mel70]

The Vanished: Search for girl no one knew was missing

Authorities in the US are searching for 18-year-old woman who went missing as a child - with no-one even realising she had been gone until now.

7news.com.au

The Vanished: Search for girl no one knew was missing

Authorities in the US are searching for 18-year-old woman who went missing as a child - with no-one even realising she had been gone until now.

The disappearance of Kaya Centeno has only been uncovered because her adoptive parents are being investigated for child abuse.

Kaya hasn’t been seen or heard from for about eight to 10 years, according to her younger siblings, a 17-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy.



The Centenos adopted Kaya and her two siblings in 2008, police said.

Kaya, who may be going by the alias Kaya Whitney Kazzee, attended John Reed School in Rohnert Park but was removed during the 2010-2011 school year to be homeschooled.

Detectives obtained search warrants for the Centenos’ Rohnert Park home and found evidence to corroborate the victims’ statements about abuse.

Gina and Jose Centeno were arrested, and each is being held in Sonoma County jail on $18 million bail.

Rohnert Park detectives are working with the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to locate Kaya.

Good luck with that 18 million dollar bail. At least by that I think they are serious about the charges here.

 

[GrandmaBear]

This is so outrageous. This poor little girl. Missing for at least 8 yrs?! I understand being taken out of school to be home schooled. This is a cover up for her being abused. But no one other than the siblings missed her? Other adults. What did you two do with her?!!!! They need to be required to answer! Another case of adoptive parents who obviously didn't adopt children to give them a good home but for money. Scumbags!!!

I lean the same way. Most definitely.

 

[Mel70]

What a cute little girl. How could you?.

 

[Summer_Breeze]

https://archive.ph/AWxvQ

Rohnert Park children adopted for financial gain were tortured, raped, records show​

Former foster parents Jose and Gina Centeno are scheduled to face a jury as early as September. Severe abuse, detailed in testimony, included children being chained to their bunk beds and forced to stay in a pet cage for weeks.

COLIN ATAGI
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
June 11, 2023, 9:16AM
| Updated 27 minutes ago

<snip>

The latest step in the saga will unfold in Sonoma County Superior Court Tuesday, when defense attorneys will present arguments about why they believe the case should not go to trial.

Chilling allegations​

The crimes came to light after two of the children were abandoned in Mexico and shared their experience with a stranger who is believed to have called authorities. The third child disappeared years earlier and has not been seen or heard from since.
The details of the abuse case have only come to light over the past year as the defendants progressed through the court system.
The allegations are chilling:

• Rain or shine, the children were forced to run barefoot in a backyard until their feet bled.
• At night, they were locked in their bedroom and beaten if they triggered a motion sensor that alerted their adopted parents.
• One child says their foster father sexually abused her before she was a teenager and she was later raped and sodomized.

The violent abuse, detailed in testimony by two of the victims and in court transcripts, spanned a decade in the home on Camino Coronado in Rohnert Park’s C-section neighborhood, west of Sonoma State University.

Both Jose and Gina Centeno have been charged with three counts of kidnapping for ransom and three counts of torture. Jose Centeno is also charged with nine additional counts related to rape and sex abuse.
“In this case, there was ample evidence of the defendants’ intent to cause severe pain and suffering,” Deputy District Attorney Ashley Hendon wrote in an evidentiary document filed on Oct. 11, 2022.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. Joe and Gina Centeno’s respective attorneys, Rachel McAllister and Evan Zelig, declined to comment on the case.

The prosecution has progressed over the past two years, and a preliminary hearing, which began in July 2022, concluded Feb. 28 when Sonoma County Judge Troye Shaffer ordered the Centenos to stand trial.

The couple is scheduled to stand trial in September.

<snip>

Testimony showed the abuse was only discovered after Jose Centeno moved them to an unspecified region of Mexico, where they shared their story with a stranger.

By that point, the third child, a girl, was nowhere to be seen after disappearing under mysterious circumstances in 2012.

Referred to in court records as Jane Doe 2, the girl was identified in 2020 as Kaya Centeno by the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

Rohnert Park Deputy Chief Kevin Kilgore declined to comment on the Centeno matter but said Kaya’s case remains open.

She is still in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database and would be about 21 now. An age-progressed photo of her is available online.

Jane Doe 1 said in court testimony during the preliminary hearing last July that Jose Centeno claimed Kaya was “sent away.”
“They dropped her off at the airport and she was crying,” Doe 1 testified at the time. “He said she was crying, and she didn’t want to go.”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Lengthy article at link with more detail. ~Summer

 

[Mel70]

This is ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING!!! Unbelievable what was done! Pure evil. Granted, There is no body for the death penalty. But the sad reality I think is obvious. I was shocked about 15 years ago hearing of fostering for money. Now you hear about it all the time. It's so sickening. A child already in a crappy situation put into a worse one.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Judge upholds most charges in Rohnert Park torture, rape case

Jose and Gina Centeno are accused of adopting two girls and a boy in 2007 for financial gain. Prosecutors say the children endured years of torture and one of them disappeared in 2012.

www.pressdemocrat.com

Sonoma County judge upholds most charges in Rohnert Park child abuse case​

A judge on Wednesday upheld most of the charges leveled against a Rohnert Park couple accused of abusing children authorities say they adopted in order to secure financial assistance from the state.

During a brief hearing in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa, Judge Robert LaForge addressed motions for dismissal filed June 13 by attorneys for Jose and Gina Centeno, who will return to court Sept. 8 to schedule a trial.

LaForge dismissed one count of forcible lewd act upon a child under the age of 14, which was filed against Jose Centeno. The judge cited uncertainty about the victim’s age when the alleged crime occurred.

Each defendant remains charged with three counts of kidnapping for ransom and three counts of torture. Jose Centeno also is charged with eight additional counts related to allegations of rape and sex abuse involving the children.


Prosecutors say the children were concealed from the public and subjected to years of torture in their home on Camino Coronado in Rohnert Park. Prosecutors have said they were chained to their beds, barely fed and beaten for minor infractions.

Officials added that the older girl, who would now be about 21 years old, disappeared in 2012.

The younger girl, identified in court only as Jane Doe 1, is now 19 years old.

She testified during the preliminary hearing — which took place over the span of several months last year before the judge determined in February that the case will head to trial— that Jose Centeno raped and sodomized her when she was 13.

Jane Doe 1 testified she and her brother, who was identified only as John Doe, now 18, were rescued after Jose Centeno brought them to Mexico and they met a U.S. citizen who they believe alerted authorities.

Jose and Gina Centeno’s respective court-appointed attorneys, Rachel McAllister and Evan Zelig, argued that the testimony and evidence didn’t validate charges against their clients.

They argued the children were legally adopted and, therefore, kidnapping charges are unnecessary. Furthermore, there was no concealment since adoption agencies knew the children were at the home.

Zelig argued Wednesday that his client didn’t abuse the victims; she punished them for misbehavior.

“There is no evidence this was done for sadistic purposes,” he told LaForge.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Judge upholds most charges in Rohnert Park torture, rape case

Jose and Gina Centeno are accused of adopting two girls and a boy in 2007 for financial gain. Prosecutors say the children endured years of torture and one of them disappeared in 2012.

www.pressdemocrat.com

Sonoma County judge upholds most charges in Rohnert Park child abuse case​

A judge on Wednesday upheld most of the charges leveled against a Rohnert Park couple accused of abusing children authorities say they adopted in order to secure financial assistance from the state.

During a brief hearing in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa, Judge Robert LaForge addressed motions for dismissal filed June 13 by attorneys for Jose and Gina Centeno, who will return to court Sept. 8 to schedule a trial.

LaForge dismissed one count of forcible lewd act upon a child under the age of 14, which was filed against Jose Centeno. The judge cited uncertainty about the victim’s age when the alleged crime occurred.

Each defendant remains charged with three counts of kidnapping for ransom and three counts of torture. Jose Centeno also is charged with eight additional counts related to allegations of rape and sex abuse involving the children.


Prosecutors say the children were concealed from the public and subjected to years of torture in their home on Camino Coronado in Rohnert Park. Prosecutors have said they were chained to their beds, barely fed and beaten for minor infractions.

Officials added that the older girl, who would now be about 21 years old, disappeared in 2012.

The younger girl, identified in court only as Jane Doe 1, is now 19 years old.

She testified during the preliminary hearing — which took place over the span of several months last year before the judge determined in February that the case will head to trial— that Jose Centeno raped and sodomized her when she was 13.

Jane Doe 1 testified she and her brother, who was identified only as John Doe, now 18, were rescued after Jose Centeno brought them to Mexico and they met a U.S. citizen who they believe alerted authorities.

Jose and Gina Centeno’s respective court-appointed attorneys, Rachel McAllister and Evan Zelig, argued that the testimony and evidence didn’t validate charges against their clients.

They argued the children were legally adopted and, therefore, kidnapping charges are unnecessary. Furthermore, there was no concealment since adoption agencies knew the children were at the home.

Zelig argued Wednesday that his client didn’t abuse the victims; she punished them for misbehavior.

“There is no evidence this was done for sadistic purposes,” he told LaForge.

I don't have the time or energy or I'd go into how California has created situations like this for themselves. And are less. And are never brought to task, these agencies, NOR does it change. Not talking of the people that live there of course, many good people live there. And of course they aren't the only state that's done so but they are imo about the worst one.

This case alone is outrageous that these people could adopt and do this and it's outrageous that hardly a soul out there likely knows of it. I BARELY know of it.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Bay Area woman charged with torturing foster children dies in custody

(KRON) — A Bay Area woman who was charged with torturing three adopted children recently died in jail custody. Gina Centeno, 53, Rohnert Park, died of natural causes from a terminal illness a…

www.kron4.com

Bay Area woman charged with torturing foster children dies in custody​

A Bay Area woman who was charged with torturing three adopted children recently died in jail custody. Gina Centeno, 53, Rohnert Park, died of natural causes from a terminal illness at Sutter Hospital in Sacramento on Sunday, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office.

Centeno had been transferred from jail into a hospital on December 29 because of complications from leukemia, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Centeno spent the last three years of her life in a Sonoma County jail awaiting trial in a shocking child abuse case. Gina Centeno and her husband, Jose Centeno, adopted three siblings in 2008, police said. For years, the children were allegedly abused in the couple’s Rohnert Park home, according to police.

One of the Centenos’ adopted children, Kaya Marie “Kazzee” Centeno, is currently classified as “missing.”


Her trial was scheduled to begin in May. Sonoma County Assistant District Attorney Brian Staebell said, once Gina Centeno’s defense attorney provides the DA’s Office with a copy of her death certificate, “we will dismiss the charges against Ms. Centeno. Her death does not affect the case against Jose Centeno.”

The child torture, kidnapping, and rape case against Jose Centeno is scheduled to move forward with a trial starting on May 24. He is being held in custody with no bail, inmate records show.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Witness in Rohnert Park child torture, kidnapping case says victim ‘just disappeared’

Jose Centeno is accused of abusing three foster children, including one who disappeared and has never been found. The remaining two children were found in August 2020 and Centeno’s trial began last month.

www.pressdemocrat.com

Witness in Rohnert Park child torture, kidnapping case says victim ‘just disappeared’​

A Sonoma County woman last saw her adopted siblings when she left for college in 2012 and was unaware her parents were abusing them at their Rohnert Park home while she was gone, she told a Sonoma County jury Thursday.

Vanessa Centeno spoke softly and wiped away tears as she testified in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa in the ongoing trial of her 57-year-old father, Jose Centeno.

His trial began last month. He is accused of three counts each of torture and kidnapping for ransom, as well as eight additional counts related to allegations of rape and sex abuse in connection with the treatment of those adopted children.

His wife, Gina Centeno, who was also arrested with him in 2020 and charged in the case, died in January before she could face a jury.

Vanessa Centeno, one of the couple’s three biological children, was the first person to publicly provide insight into what family members knew about her parents’ relationship with her adopted siblings and how they were cared for inside the home they all shared on Camino Coronado in Rohnert Park.

The 33-year-old said she was attending Santa Rosa Junior College in 2012 when she last saw Kaya, one of the three foster children.

She asked her mother, Gina Centeno, what happened to Kaya and testified she was only told the child had relocated to a new home.

“She just wasn’t there,” Vanessa Centeno told jurors Thursday.

Investigators say Kaya has never been found. She would be about 22 years old today.

Vanessa Centeno said she headed south to attend UC Santa Cruz later in 2012.

She testified the other two adopted children were also gone when she visited. She said her parents told her they’d also been relocated to a new home and they never spoke of them again.

Investigators say the children, instead, were held upstairs and were being tortured.

Officials believe the Centenos adopted two girls and a boy in 2007 for financial gain via California’s adoption assistance program. The girls were ages 3 and 4 and the boy was 2 years old at the time.

Prosecutors said the children were hidden from the public and subjected to years of torture in their home on Camino Coronado. Prosecutors said the children were chained to their beds, barely fed and beaten for minor infractions.

The younger girl, identified in court only as Jane Doe 1, is now 21 years old.

She testified during a 2022 preliminary hearing that Jose Centeno raped and sodomized her when she was 13.

She said she and her brother, identified in court as J. Doe, now 19, were rescued after Jose Centeno brought them to Mexico and they met a U.S. citizen who they believe alerted authorities.

James Crawford-Jakubiak, a pediatrician with the Center for Child Protection at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, testified Tuesday that he evaluated the two children and their medical records after they were discovered.

The latest records prior to 2020 were from 2011 and 2012.

“They hadn’t seen a provider that I was aware of for many years,” Crawford-Jakubiak testified.

He said the earlier records indicated Jane and J. Doe had been developing normally for children of their age at the time. By the time they were discovered, however, Jane Doe was 17 years old, 4 feet 9 inches tall and about 200 pounds.

Crawford-Jakubiak testified poor nutrition could have affected her height and the weight gain may have been the result of her body poorly adjusting to new eating habits beginning in Mexico.

On Thursday, Penelope Linn testified she was a Child Protective Services worker assigned to the children in 2020 and “they were often confused” by social interactions.

Both struggled to understand how to use money and mail was a new concept, she said.

“(Jane Doe) had a lot of questions about things older teenagers, 17-year-olds, would generally know,” Linn testified.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Rohnert Park man who terrorized adopted children gets multiple life sentences

A Rohnert Park man who adopted three children and then locked them away in a house and sexually abused them for years has been given six consecutive sentences of life without the possibility of parole for his crimes, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

www.cbsnews.com

Rohnert Park man who terrorized adopted children gets multiple life sentences​

A Rohnert Park man who adopted three children and then locked them away in a house and sexually abused them for years has been given six consecutive sentences of life without the possibility of parole for his crimes, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Jose Centeno, 57, was also given three consecutive life sentences, and an additional 39 years in the California Department of Corrections after being found guilty in July of three counts of kidnapping for financial gain, three counts of torture, and nine counts involving the sexual abuse of a child.


During the isolation and abuse, the oldest of the siblings, Kaya, lost consciousness. Kaya's siblings were told she had been sent away, and they never saw or heard from her again. To this day, she has not been found.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Preaching to the choir here but...

A Santa Rosa jury foreman saw horrors in child torture trial. Now he’s focusing on abuse prevention

A jury convicted a Rohnert Park man to six life sentences for torturing his foster children, but the jury foreman said horrific abuses should have been reported before it was too late.

www.pressdemocrat.com

Moved by tragedy, jury foreman of Sonoma County child torture case wants more of us to pay attention, act​

Steve Share of Santa Rosa bore witness to one of Sonoma County’s most horrific criminal trials in recent memory.

He’d like some modicum of good to come from it.

Share was foreman on the jury that in July found Jose Centeno guilty of 15 counts related to the abuse and torture of his three adopted children.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Troye Shaffer sentenced him to six consecutive life sentences, telling a packed courtroom that she had “never seen anything like this before.”

Neither had Share. And that is why he is speaking out.


Share isn’t interested in revisiting the horrors that Centeno inflicted on children who were supposed to be in his care. His focus today is how more of us can be aware of what abuse and neglect looks like and what to do when we see it.

It’s Share’s belief that many people, over the course of years, had opportunity to report what was happening in Gina and Jose Centeno’s Rohnert Park home.

Some of those people were required by law to report what Share described as obvious signs of abuse. But still more were people he believes likely knew something but said nothing.

They were not so-called mandated reporters, those required by law to file a report, but less official observers who nonetheless were in a position to witness how the children were faring in their household, how they were growing, and what was happening when they stopped going to their neighborhood school.

“There were so many opportunities,” Share said. “There were things that people observed and never acted on.”

It’s Share’s hope that if more people are compelled, inspired and feel confident to report suspicions of abuse or neglect, lives will be saved.