Toe fetishist stalked his former fiancee

SANTA FE – At first glance, the story about the ex-boyfriend with a toe fetish might attract a few chuckles.

In reality, it has become the story of a Santa Fe woman who has been stalked, terrorized and repeatedly attacked and injured despite taking all of the steps recommended for stalking victims.

The 32-year-old woman got a protection order against her ex-boyfriend, called police to report his violent assaults, moved from Santa Fe to be away from him and hid her address from where he might find it.

Still, ex-boyfriend Daniel Anaya found her in Albuquerque on Monday and allegedly, for the third time, violently attacked her and mutilated her toes.

“This is the unfortunate situation for victims,” said Carol Horwitz, Santa Fe’s domestic and sexual violence prevention coordinator. “You have to watch your back.”

She said victims of domestic violence need to know that protection orders “are only pieces of paper.” “They don’t protect you from a bullet or something like that,” she said.

Court records show that Anaya’s victim first sought an order of protection from Anaya in January, about six weeks after his alleged first attack. But her request was rejected by a state district judge, despite her application’s statement that Anaya had started to bite her toe off and completely removed the toenail.

That attack, in which Anaya allegedly used a box cutter to threaten her, took place when she agreed to go to his house to give him a haircut after they broke up, her report to police shows.

He tracked her down and allegedly attacked her again in February. She called police again, and this time he was arrested. Later, a judge did issue a protective order. Meanwhile, Anaya, who doesn’t appear to have a prior criminal record, got out of jail on bond.

On Monday, the order’s final terms had been in place about 10 days when Anaya violated the order by somehow tracking his victim down in Albuquerque.

She was staying with a relative and left the door unlocked for her children, who were due to arrive home from school.

In Monday’s incident, Anaya, 27, a former department store shoe salesman, attacked the woman and held her down before going after her left big toe, first with his teeth and then the cigar cutter. The woman fought him off with a fork and by clawing at his face.

Anaya was arrested when he showed up at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe later Monday night.

“She’s doing everything she’s supposed to do,” District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco said last week. “The problem is I don’t know how he found her in Albuquerque.”

First protection application

In the woman’s first application for a protection order in January, she alleged that on Nov. 22 Anaya forcefully took her shoes off and bit on her toe hard enough to remove the nail. Anaya “continually” called her at work and at home even though she told him to leave her alone. The woman had broken up with Anaya, her former fiancé, after four years of dating.

There’s no record at the Santa Fe jail or the state court database that Anaya was ever charged or arrested in this case. The woman’s police report said he threatened her with the box cutter before performing a sex act after he’d mangled her toe.

State District Court Judge T. Glenn Ellington denied the protection order at a hearing on Jan. 18, according to court records. His order states he found “there is no basis for an Order of Protection under the Family Violence Protection Act” and that the allegations in her petition “do not allege ‘domestic abuse’ ” as defined in a section of state law.

Police say that on Feb. 3, less than a month after that hearing, Anaya found his ex at the Entrada de Milagro apartment in south Santa Fe that they formerly shared. There, police say, he attacked and bit off the tip of her left big toe down to the bone. She fought off Anaya and fled to a neighbor’s house, where she called police.

In this case, Anaya faces charges including burglary and aggravated battery against a household member causing great bodily harm. He was released Feb. 7 after making a $25,000 cash or surety bond.

Pacheco said Anaya’s release was normal. “As long as a judge sets bond, you have a constitutional right to bail,” she said.

The February charges were later dismissed from Santa Fe County Magistrate Court without prejudice, meaning they can be re-filed. Assistant District Attorney Susan Stinson states in a court document that the case will be presented to a grand jury for indictment into District Court.

Second order application

The woman filed for another protection order from Anaya on Feb. 8, based on the Feb. 3 attack that got him arrested.

“He has always had this strange obsession with feet,” she states in the complaint.

She alleged that since the February attack Anaya was trying to find out more information about her and that she was afraid she may have to move again.

“I fear for my safety as well as my children’s safety and I feel it is escalating and I need him to stay as far away from me as possible,” she stated in her complaint.

District Court Judge Sylvia LaMar granted a stipulated order of protection on March 21. The order prohibits Anaya from being within 100 yards of the woman’s home. Violating the order is a misdemeanor crime.

The order states that both the woman and Anaya are required to attend and complete counseling at Santa Fe’s Esperanza Shelter for Battered Families.

During Monday’s attack in Albuquerque, according to his victim, Anaya repeatedly told her, “You ruined my life.”

Santa Fe Police spokeswoman Celina Westervelt said police do not know how Anaya found where the woman was living.

DA Pacheco said on Wednesday that prosecutors would seek a higher bond for Anaya now, based on the new charges he faces, which include aggravated stalking. “It shows that this guy doesn’t get it,” Pacheco said.

But a Metropolitan Court judge on Friday reduced Anaya’s bond amount from the $100,000 set when he was booked to $50,000 cash or surety.

Horwitz did not comment on the Anaya case specifically, but she still encouraged people who believe they may be in danger from a stalker to seek a protection order from District Court, which is a free service.

She also said people should also speak with counselors such as herself, with the Esperanza Shelter or with the Solace Crisis Treatment Center. She encouraged people to keep a log of suspicious activity to give to law enforcement.
— This article appeared on page B1 of the Albuquerque Journal