Angelique Robledo has quite a story to tell — one that began in high school and nearly ended in tragedy when someone tried to steal her unborn child. Today, her child, now a teenager, is starting his freshman year at the very same school. 

More than 14 years ago, Robledo survived a suspected attempted fetal abduction that ended with her closet in flames inside her Cobblestone Farms home. 

The incident sparked a media frenzy and transformed her into a public figure overnight. But despite the trauma — and the attention — Robledo and her now larger family have worked hard to build something close to normal in Maricopa. 

 

When mutilation failed, she turned to arson 

A Southern California native, Robledo moved to Maricopa in seventh grade after her stepdad, who managed a phone packaging company, transferred to a new plant in Arizona. Her family — mom and three stepbrothers — went from a mobile home trailer park in Orange County to a five-bedroom house with a swimming pool. 

By 15, Robledo was working at the city’s new Jack in the Box — one of several early fast-food spots where teenagers hung out frequently. 

The city was growing. When Robledo was a senior at Maricopa High School in 2011, the population hovered just below 44,000. John Wayne Parkway was lined with dirt lots, and Amtrak trains still stopped traffic at the tracks before the overpass was built. 

Robledo was 17 when she found out she was pregnant with her then-boyfriend, now-husband Josh Cruz’s child. The news was a pivotal moment, she said — pulling her away from a rough stretch of teen partying and substance use. 

But just weeks before she was due to give birth, something unthinkable happened. 

She had recently befriended another 18-year-old named Kassandra Toruga, who told her she was also pregnant. That turned out to be a lie.  

On Feb. 16, 2011, while the two were alone at Robledo’s home, she sensed something was wrong. What she could have never expected was that Toruga had allegedly planned to perform a C-section and abduct her baby. 

Toruga reportedly sat behind Robledo on her bed in the dark, saying she had a gift for her. As she began to count down from three, Robledo’s instincts kicked in — she sprang up and ran from the room. 

Police say Toruga was holding a diaper bag that contained two butcher knives. Rather than chase Robledo, Toruga used a lit tea candle to start a fire in the bedroom closet. 

She was arrested a month later and charged with attempted murder, burglary and arson. According to a police report, Toruga confessed that she “was going to kill Angelique and take the baby.” However, a grand jury dropped the attempted murder charge. 

“Maricopa was a lot smaller back then, and I was very well known at the time, obviously, just because of it being a small town,” Robledo told InMaricopa in July. “I knew a lot of people and being the girl that almost got killed once … they put it all over the news, like, everybody recognized me, everybody knew who I was.”  

At first, the trauma was too much to talk about. She stayed silent for nearly a year. 

Two days before the anniversary of the attack, Toruga pleaded guilty to attempted arson by reason of insanity. She was sentenced to 7½ years in a mental health facility. Once stabilized, she was ordered to serve out her sentence in a state prison. 

“I didn’t make my first statement until sentencing,” Robledo said. “That was the first time I ever spoke to the media because it was just too overwhelming to deal with, and to come to terms with what happened, because then it made it all so real.” 

Shortly after, she appeared on Dr. Phil in Hollywood — a regrettable media debut that “blew up in my face,” she said.  

“That experience literally altered everything in my brain. It was the worst experience of my life,” Robledo said. “He put a bulletin board up and told me, and the world, everything that I did wrong.” 

She left feeling more alone than ever, believing somehow she deserved what happened. After that, she disappeared from the public eye. 

 

Daring to come home 

In the months after the attack, Robledo, her newborn Ryland and the rest of her family left Maricopa. 

“I was having really bad PTSD, and I just couldn’t stay in the house anymore,” Robledo said. “Every time I went in that room, all I could see were flames.” 

After several times when her parents found her screaming and swinging her arms as she woke from nightmares, they decided to move to Chandler for a fresh start. 

There, Robledo chose not to share her story or reveal her identity. She worked at a Valley restaurant for about six years. Then, after becoming pregnant with her third child, the family moved back to The Villages at Rancho El Dorado in 2017. 

“Maricopa is home. Even when a tragic event happens, it’s home,” Robledo said. “It’s where I grew up. It’s where Josh grew up. It’s where we would just want to have our family.” 

Ryland is now a freshman at Maricopa High School, while his younger siblings Maddox, 10, and Scarlett, 7, attend Butterfield Elementary. 

“I told myself I was never going to come back to Maricopa, but here I am,” Robledo said. “My son’s going to the same high school that I went to. It’s kind of surreal and crazy to see.” 

 

‘A typical, normal family’ 

Sports play a big role in the family’s life and healing journey.  

Last year, Ryland played wide receiver for the Maricopa Junior Rams on the Maricopa High School football field. 

“The first time we ever saw that was so surreal because my husband was a football player for Maricopa and I played soccer on that field before there was turf,” Robledo said. “It was a really cool feeling being like, ‘Me and your dad played those sports on this field and now you’re following in our footsteps.’” 

Scarlett plays softball and Maddox plays soccer. 

“Our weekends are pretty busy,” Robledo said with a laugh. 

“We live a normal life. We go kayaking, we have quads, we go camping, we go on vacations, just like a typical, normal family.” 

 

Ready to be seen by the world 

After several years away from the media, Robledo returned in 2019, visiting the Maricopa Police Department to read the full police reports and find answers to questions she had avoided. 

“I understood things that I didn’t know, and I became more open-minded,” Robledo said. She soon realized she wasn’t alone in her experience. 

When social media apps like TikTok surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, Robledo began sharing her story there. She has since gathered over a quarter-million followers on TikTok and nearly 50,000 on Instagram.  

“People recognized me on TikTok from the Dr. Phil show,” Robledo said, adding people wanted to hear her side of it. Her TikTok series telling her story has earned millions of views, and she regularly answers viewers’ questions. 

She described it as learning to shift from victim to survivor. 

“It’s almost like I took my story, and instead of people feeling bad for me, I empowered myself and made sure that I don’t want to be a victim,” Robledo said. “I’m not a victim, I’m a survivor.” 

Robledo has connected with other well-known survivors, such as Kara Robinson, a South Carolina teen who escaped a serial killer’s kidnapping in 2002. She’s become part of an online community of violent crime survivors. 

Her story has reached global headlines — featured in People magazine, The New York Post and the U.K.’s Daily Mail. She has appeared on several podcasts, and her story was featured on Investigation Discovery’s show Frenemies. 

Using her large social media platform, Robledo is now writing a memoir-style book titled She Wasn’t Just a Story. Through her voice, she helps others facing similar struggles. 

“People want to tell me their story because they don’t feel comfortable enough to tell it to the world,” Robledo said. “I’ve had the privilege of helping people just talk, which makes them feel better, which makes me feel good. 

“Trauma is trauma, no matter how big or small it is … It’s been really nice to have people understand me from different perspectives and to also relate to me so much.” 

@angeliquemonet0 Replying to @MichelleR1347 i suck at story times 😂 #storytime#wombraiders#truecrimecommunity#wombraider#arizona#intuition#pregnacy#healing ♬ original sound – Angelique Robledo✍️📕