A New Mexico mother was arraigned this week on 18 charges related to the abuse of a child, including one count of criminal sexual penetration.
Valerie Cordell, 41, pleaded not guilty to the charges, while her husband Melvin Cordell, 50, is facing 24 charges, including child sex charges and is set to be arraigned next week.
The Cordells were taken into custody in February following a report from Roswell Police to New Mexico State Police, prompted by their 16-year-old daughter’s disclosure of abuse while attending the state National Guard Challenge Academy in October 2024, as reported by KQRE.
According to court documents, the girl revealed to investigators that she had been pregnant twice as a result of “unwanted sex” with her father and two other adult relatives. Melvin Cordell is alleged to have carried out “non-consensual” abortions on the girl and tampered with or concealed the fetuses.
The teen said that her parents forced her and her siblings to have sex with each in front of adults.
She also said she and her siblings were often starved as punishment and said that there were times when they were denied food after they called 911 and child services came to the 35-acre rural property where the family lived in “underground caves” made of mud.
Court documents describe the property as looking like a “city trash landfill” with buckets of feces, piles and piles of trash, rotting food, animal skeletons, broken appliances, broken campers, other vehicles, and clothing scattered everywhere.
According to the district attorney’s office, seven children lived on the property, ranging in age from 6 months to 16 years. They have all been placed in state protective custody.
The Cordells are both being held without bond.
