Johanna: Facing forward
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 1: A desperate plea to remain alive
Johanna Orozco's grandmother clasped a bath towel to the darkening pit where the 18-year-old's jaw was supposed to be. Blood seeped through the older woman's worn fingers. A rusty-edged Honda Accord bulleted them toward MetroHealth Medical Center, blowing past...
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 2: A tender bond turns abusive
Johanna Orozco and Juan Ruiz had known each other since second grade, when they attended Walton Elementary School together. They stood next to each other in a school picture, and waved in passing, but they were never close before high...
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 3: A young life is shattered
Johanna closed her eyes, fearing for her family -- her brother, Kevin, and her grandparents -- sleeping just rooms away. Juan told her not to make a sound. Or he would hurt them....
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 4: Time to start the mending
Dr. Michael Fritz gulped the first time he saw Johanna Orozco's smooth face looking up at him from the front page of the March 11 newspaper. Johanna, wearing a tiara and silky pink dress, had become Cleveland's princess in distress...
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 5: Surgery begins to shape the future
Johanna modeled a pair of movie-star sunglasses with rhinestones arched across the crest. Striking exaggerated poses, she shook her hips to a bumping beat coming from a metallic pink iPod sent to her as a get-well gift. It was April...
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 6: Heading home, yet still afraid
I want to go home, Johanna told her aunt on Easter Sunday, five days after the 13-plus-hour surgery that gave her a new jaw. I give up. Aunt Hilda gestured to the tangle of tubes that drained fluid from her...
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 7: Prom becomes a royal night
Johanna wriggled into a silky emerald-colored dress with a plunging neckline and sparkly silver accents. The dress slid down her depleted frame, leaving her modest white bra exposed and the dress hanging off her hips. Months ago, before Johanna was...
Johanna Orozco Facing Forward Part 8: Finally, some relief
\Johanna Orozco weaved though the hallways of the downtown Justice Center, following Assistant Prosecutor Pinkey Carr. The 18-year-old had tucked the bandanna she usually wore over the lower half of her face into her purse. She had graduated from high...
Previous Stories from the Plain Dealer
• Ruiz pleads guilty August 11, 2007 | Photos • Courts may get power over dating May 31, 2007 • MySpace site focuses on dating, violence May 11, 2007 • Shooting victim asks for privacy after release April 17, 2007...
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