Teen boy was used as ‘punching bag’ before his death, cousin says

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The trial for Ruben Gonzalez, who is accused of killing 13-year-old Jesse Harrison Jr., continued on Thursday morning with testimony from the boy’s cousin.

One of Harrison’s cousins took the stand Thursday morning. Prosecutors began by showing a nearly one-hour long interrogation video, where the cousin spoke with Willacy County investigators.

The video starts with Harrison’s cousin explaining their relationship, where he called him “Baby Jesse,” and described him as a younger brother.

His cousin recalled witnessing several instances of abuse on Harrison, mainly at the hands of Antonia and Ruben Gonzalez.

He recalled one moment where they instructed Harrison’s youngest sibling to “show him what a punching bag is.”

He said at this point, he saw Harrison kneel down, allowing himself to get hit by the boy. The cousin stated this incident occurred two months prior to Harrison's death.

The cousin told investigators that the two would have overly harsh forms of discipline for Harrison, including an instance where he was forced to put both of his hands in the air for two hours.

In the interrogation video, he told investigators that the school should have documented reports of the abuse. He said there were times where Antonia would receive calls from the school asking if Harrison was not being fed, which she denied.

After learning of his death, his cousin said that he was angry, even calling authorities and telling them “if the investigators say he wasn’t eating … believe it.”

He also recalled those in the household using harsh language against Harrison, including calling him homophobic and derogatory slurs.

“He wanted to be strong and big," the cousin said when speaking about Harrison. "He wanted to be a superhero.”