But behind closed doors, this child’s world was far from ordinary.

His father was a violent alcoholic prone to fits of rage that resulted in frequent physical abuse.

The boy suffered multiple head injuries before the age of six, knocked unconscious so many times that he later developed temporal lobe epilepsy.

As punishment, his father would sometimes tie him to a crucifix in a cemetery overnight, leaving the frightened child alone in the darkness among the tombstones.

By age 10, he had already begun smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol, searching for any escape from the violence at home.This sweet-looking boy grew up in El Paso, Texas. Credit: Adobe Stock

The transformation

On May 4, 1975, when he was just 15 years old, the boy witnessed something that would have shattered most people: his older cousin Miguel shot and k**** his wife