A woman born with a rare genetic condition that required a lifetime of facial reconstruction has been forced to go under the knife once again after her ex-boyfriend brutally attacked her.
Alexis Garcia Tule, 27, had finally started to feel confident after years of bullying and painful surgeries, including an intensive jaw reconstruction that involved metal implants to replace bone.
When Tule met Cesar Angel Dominguez at her new job, she was hopeful for a fresh start.
But that optimism soon turned to terror. Their relationship became abusive, culminating in a night of unimaginable violence when Dominguez, 33, beat her with brass knuckles for an hour – leaving Tule so disfigured that her own brother couldn’t recognize her.
It has taken almost a year for the former gas station worker from Dallas, Texas, to recover, after a lifetime of dealing with Goldenhar syndrome – a rare condition affecting the development of her face.
The condition caused Tule to spend most of her life undergoing facial reconstruction surgery.
Following the attack by Dominguez, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, she said all of those surgeries would have to be redone at great financial and emotional cost.
Tule struggles to see and speak and is helped by her mother, Leticia, 50, who had to stop working as a hostess at the Dallas Athletic Club to care for her daughter.
Alexis Garcia Tule, 27, was brutally beaten by her boyfriend with brass knuckles for an hour – an attack that forced her to undergo facial reconstruction surgery after a lifetime of procedures due to a rare genetic condition
The attack inside the couple’s apartment left Tule so disfigured that her brother didn’t recognize her
Cesar Angel Dominguez, 33, was arrested for the attack that broke Tule’s jaw, nose, eye sockets, teeth, spine and retina in her left eye
Before the relationship with Dominguez turned violent, Tule was on the mend.
Having dealt with bullying for most of her childhood, Tule’s final jaw surgery made her feel confident enough to seek independence, landing employment, locking down her own apartment, and learning to drive.
It was at her new job where she met Dominguez.
Initially, their relationship was platonic but blossomed into a romantic on during the Covid-19 pandemic. He moved into her apartment in 2023.
‘At first, everything was pretty nice,’ she told the Daily Mail. ‘He was really sweet.
‘And what I liked about him was that he never judged me for who I was. He treated me like a normal person.
‘He never really pointed out or seemed to care about my appearance – he accepted me for who I was, and he knew about my surgeries and everything.’
However, Dominguez’s ‘sweet’ demeanor soon changed. He became abusive to Tule, especially when intoxicated, apologizing and often claiming not to remember the attacks the next day.
As time went on, the violence worsened, including an incident in which Tule said that Dominguez tried to gouge out her eyes with his fingers.
The couple met at Tule’s new job and were friends for years before their relationship blossomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it quickly soured
Tule was born with Goldenhar syndrome – a rare condition affecting the development of her face, causing her to undergo facial surgeries for the majority of her life
Tule was bullied for most of her life. When she was given the option to undergo intensive jaw reconstruction, she jumped at the chance
‘It was a very scary situation because the next day he bit my head, and he kept saying that he wanted to kill me, and it was just a lot of traumatic scenarios,’ she said.
The situation escalated to the point where Dominguez carried mace and often threatened to use it on strangers with Tule often intervening to calm him down.
‘That’s when I realized that I wanted to leave the relationship because it was getting out of control,’ she said.
Her family was unaware of the abuse due to threats Dominguez made against both Tule and her loved ones. But her mother grew increasingly concerned, noting that Tule had been losing a significant amount of weight.
Getting out wasn’t simple, as her attempts to break up with an unhinged Dominguez led to more intimidation.
It wasn’t until he threatened to fracture Tule’s face and break her jaw that she finally built up the courage to follow through on plans to end the relationship.
One night, after drinking with a friend, Dominguez turned on Tule, spraying her with bear mace and putting her in a headlock. For a grueling hour, he then violently beat his girlfriend with brass knuckles until she passed out from the pain.
Tule, pictured after her jaw reconstruction surgery and before meeting Dominguez, would later suffer injuries so severe from his brutal attack that doctors said they were worse than those caused by her genetic condition
Tule’s family was unaware of the abuse by Dominguez and his escalating threats. Her mother grew increasingly concerned at her daughter’s sudden weight loss
Scans after the jaw surgery Tule underwent before meeting Dominguez
The aftermath, witnessed by her mother, was horrifying. ‘It was a disaster,’ Leticia said. ‘There was blood everywhere, things on the floor, the mattress where he left her.’
Tule was left severely disfigured and nearly blind from the attack.
‘Unfortunately, my ex broke everything that had been reconstructed throughout my entire life,’ she said.
After the brutal attack by Dominguez, Tule was able to call 911 and her brother Alexander to the apartment, who was ‘paralyzed’ when he saw the state of his sister
‘He broke my jaw, he broke my nose, both eye sockets, my teeth, my spine and unfortunately, he also broke my retina in my left eye, so I am not able to see clearly any more.
‘I had no idea what was going on. I really thought I was dreaming until I got up and I noticed that I had a lot of pain in my face and my whole body was burning from the bear mace.’
Tule managed to call her mother, who dialed 911 while her brother, Alexander, rushed to the apartment.
She was scared to open the door when the police arrived because she thought it was Dominguez.
‘When I opened the door, the police went: “Oh my God,” she recalled. ‘They couldn’t even see the form of my face.
Dominguez took a plea deal that handed him a sentence of 25 years in prison for the brutal attack against Tule
Tule spent weeks in hospital undergoing extensive surgeries to fix her face. It was at the hospital that prosecutors came to tell her that Dominguez would be imprisoned for 25 years
‘As soon as my brother saw me, he was paralyzed.’
Her mother added: ‘Her entire face, it was like no face at all.
‘My son was in shock because he only recognized her from her clothes. He couldn’t sleep for three days remembering how he found her.’
Dominguez was found and placed in custody. Tule was in the hospital for his sentencing, but the prosecutor visited the ward to tell her the news.
She spent weeks in the hospital undergoing extensive surgeries to fix her face.
Despite the horrific ordeal, Tule hopes her story will help others escape abusive relationships.
‘It’s been really hard to process everything that happened and also to accept the reality of knowing that I’m not going to be able to see any more,’ she said. ‘I am not able to work or drive any more or be independent.
‘I feel like 25 years is not enough for what he did to me,’ Tule said of Dominguez’s sentence, ‘but I do feel like there’s at least some justice served for myself.’
Her family has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $50,000 for medical expenses, including surgeries, medicine and glasses.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .