A Toast 2 Wealth

Juan Mendez is has been charged with 2 counts of murder for the death of his wife, Whitney and mother in-law, Lori Stone.  He is accused of stabbing them both and leaving them in a pool of blood in their Lehigh Acres duplex.  His estranged with had taken out a domestic violence injunction him and there have been reports custody issues the two were having over their son may have prompted the killings.  The question is, why was there a fight of custody, if Juan could not even take care of himself?

Juan Mendez has a history of beating women.  In 2000, he was accused of beating one of his pregnant girlfriends, then in 2003 he also was accused of beating another girlfriend while refusing to pay child support.

In 2004 he and Whitney Mendez has a son, then were married in 2006, but this did not stop the beatings.  When Whitney got a restraining order, she confessed he constantly beat her.  On June 30th, she applied for a restraining order against her husband saying, “Within the last two weeks, at home, he has threatened to beat me and kill me if I ever call the police on him. He said he will violate his probation just to teach me a lesson. He has beat me in front of my son and his other son. He has slapped me to the ground as I was holding my son. In 2004 he beat me so bad my eye was closed shut and bruises all over my face.”  She even admitted although they were separated he would often visit and threaten she and her mother.  That confession could get Juan Mendez convicted of a double homicide.

Originally, in 2007, the judge had dismissed the case based on lack of evidence, but investigators found new evidence and was able to point him to the crimes.

Juan Mendez faces life in prison if he is found guilty of the two counts of second degree murder he is facing.

Juan’s attorney is trying to prove evidence that he was not present during the murders and claims it was a burglar who killed them both.  However, the shoe print he says forensic says is not his does not say he did not switch shoes.

Juan Mendez appears to be like the average black guy who depended on white women to financially support him, so he would not have to deal with challenges within society and if he did not get his way, he would become violent.  There are similarities between Juan Mendez and O. J. Simpson.  Although, O. J. Simpson once had a lot of money, it was his personal insecurities that caused him to not only kill his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, but also Ronald Goldman.  Similar to this case of Juan Mendez, there was evidence of him raging over the phone as Nicole was calling the emergency operator in fear for her life.  There were photos of Nicole Brown Simpson bruised from the beatings of O. J. Simpson and similar to this case the only thing that stopped the physical abuse was murder.  Even after O. J. Simpson, it seems as though men with personal inferior complexes never learn and continue to solve matters with violence.  Furthermore, Juan Mendez’s deceased wife seemed to be much younger than him, so this is a sign he was insecure and did not want to deal with being black or accepting responsibility as a 31 year-old man.  Now, because of his selfishness and personal insecurities, his son is left all by himself, no grandmother, no mother or father.