It was a shocking claim of Dickensian cruelty that shook the city of San Antonio to its core.

An upset mother, Andie Rae Castillo, recounted that her cute ten-year-old daughter Taylor had her thick brown hair cut off while she was asleep on the bus returning home from Compass Rose Legacy public charter school earlier this month.

Castillo, who has consistently spoken out about the distress she claims Taylor has experienced, used TikTok to publicly call out Texas school officials, prompting them to begin an investigation.

The post was captioned: ‘She ain’t letting no bullies stop her.

‘First thing tomorrow morning is (sic) raising hell at that school.’

But the truth, when it finally emerged, was even more disturbing: Taylor had cut her own hair off. There were no scissor-wielding bullies.

Andie apologized, while insisting Taylor had been driven to tell a single lie by an extended period of torment. 

Now though, a close relative has come forward to brand Andie an attention-seeker more concerned with fame and freebies than her daughter’s wellbeing.

Taylor Castillo claimed bullies snipped her hair while she slept on a school bus, resulting in a haphazard haircut. However, an investigation later revealed that Taylor had cut it herself.

Pictured with Stanley Cups sent to her following an earlier purported bullying incident, Taylor stands in focus. A relative now argues that Taylor’s mother, Andie Rae, is using her daughter to gain attention and gifts.

Andie has angrily denied those allegations. She says her relative has an ax to grind over an alleged sexual impropriety.  

The drama exploded hours after the Daily Mail published its story about Taylor’s haircut on Thursday.

An anonymous female relative phoned our reporter with what she insisted was the real story about Andie’s antics.

That relative – subsequently identified by Andie herself as her cousin Kimberly Almendarez – said: ‘I know this mother. 

‘She has capitalized on her child many times.

‘There have been incidents, and she has openly discussed with us, her family, about creating online wish lists for her kids following her comments on TikTok.’

A wish list is an online registry on websites like Amazon, where the list owner adds desired items for others to purchase as gifts.

Andie’s public Amazon wish list contains an assortment of makeup and beauty products, room décor for kids, walkie-talkies or action figures – worth about $370 in total.

Andie Rae is pictured sharing details of bullying she says Taylor suffered with her 123,000 TikTok followers, many of whom started keeping tabs on her account because of the school abuse 

A caption under a deleted TikTok video about Taylor being sent Stanley Cups after she was allegedly teased over her counterfeit version  

Andie Rae responded excitedly to followers who inquired about the heartwarming ending  

Particularly notable is a selection of Stanley Cups Andie has suggested that her followers purchase. 

Andie first hit the headlines in February after she posted about Taylor’s anguish over being bullied for having a fake Stanley Cup.

Well-wishers subsequently inundated the little girl with the sought-after drinks containers and a post showed Taylor surrounded by 15 of them. 

The video was captioned: ‘This is something bigger than a girl and her cup. Teach your kids kindness. 

‘Acceptance. Empathy. Compassion. Decency and most importantly how to be a friend to those who are being bullied.’

Taylor was filmed thanking her ‘TikTok tías’ (aunts) and added: ‘Oh yeah, my Amazon wishlist is in my mom’s bio.’ 

Comments under a TikTok video since deleted by Andie gushed over the happy ending to her 123,000 followers, most of whom she gathered after beginning her anti-bullying crusade. 

‘Thank you to everyone. Her Amazon wishlist is linked in my bio,’ Andie captioned the post in another reminder of the gifting page. 

Andie is pictured on the right, her cousin Kimberly Almendarez. Kimberly told the Daily Mail she believed Andie had exaggerated Taylor’s bullying 

‘Not me crying about a girl and her Stanley’s’ Consuela Shania replied, in a post liked by Andie and 22,700 others. 

‘Waittttt is this the result of the video where the little mean girls was bullying her because of her bedazzled Stanley?’ Another user called Niy asked.

‘Yes,’ replied Andie, before adding an emoji smiling face surrounded by love hearts.  

Kimberly, however, has suggested the incident was trumped up by Andie for social media glory. 

‘It was like, a couple girls that were making fun of her because she had a fake Stanley Cup,’ she said.  

‘Her mom blew that out of the water. It’s ridiculous, honestly. She is just trying to get free stuff and attention. 

‘I don’t want to talk about the little girl,’ Kimberly added. ‘She is a family member of mine and she is a child. 

‘I’m more concerned about her mom and the way she approaches things. The only reason why she made a big deal is because she knows she can get stuff.’

But Andie hit back and said Kimberly (pictured above) had an ax to grind over an alleged sexual impropriety 

Kimberly (left) accused Andie (right) of lying about her daughter’s bullying to get free items

Kimberly has also questioned Andie’s angry claims that school bosses requested a public apology from Taylor over the haircut lie.

‘No one asked the little girl for any type of apology,’ she said. 

‘My understanding is that [Andie] was going to have her apologize. That was her punishment, that she was gonna go on social media to apologize. 

‘No one to my understanding asked her to do that. That was actually her own mom that was gonna have her do that.’

When asked about the claims, Andie said Kimberly’s allegations all stemmed from an alleged sex incident. 

‘This is all petty drama with [Kimberly],’ Andie told us, before detailing sex claims the Daily Mail has not been able to substantiate. 

‘She’s upset because once I found out (about those claims), I told my family what was happening, and ever since that, my family has stopped talking to her because it caused – obviously – a big rift.’

Taylor is pictured with a smart new haircut after the bus stop chop, which it was later revealed she’d done herself 

The Daily Mail has contacted Kimberly for a response. 

Meanwhile, the war between the two women continued on Facebook Friday morning.

Kimberly wrote: ‘Sadly [Andie] continues to come to social media because she was caught’ and ‘now has to bring in family drama.’ 

Andie added that Kimberly ‘takes full advantage’ of ‘any chance she finds to bring me or my daughter down.’ 

And while two grown women squabble, a little girl continues to suffer. 

The Compass Rose Legacy school told the Daily Mail: ‘After a thorough investigation into a reported incident, we have confirmed that no bullying or misconduct took place. 

‘Unfortunately, misinformation was shared publicly. 

‘We assure our community that the safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority, and we are committed to responding with integrity, transparency, and care.’

The school added that there had been ‘no record of ‘ongoing’ bullying of Taylor over the course of three years.’ 

There was only one official record about a ‘drinking cup’ that was ‘directly addressed’ by the administration, the school told the Daily Mail, in an apparent reference to the Stanley Cup incident. 

Andie continues to question the school, claiming bosses there had treated it as a problem involving one bully.

She insists multiple children are behind the alleged abuse. 

The school suggested that ‘false information had been shared’

Her mother claimed that she had asked to meet with the school for ‘almost the last three years’

The school told the Daily Mail that Andie ‘misheard or misrepresented’ the Texas anti-bullying policy, which defines bullying as ‘a single significant act or a pattern of acts by one or more students directed at another student.’ 

Despite the worsening scandal, Andie is standing firm on the bullying claims.

She now plans to move Taylor to another school and says other parents at Compass Rose have vowed to do the same over abuse allegedly suffered by their children. 

Andie told the Daily Mail: ‘My only comment is the school took way too long to do anything and it took my daughter to go to extreme measures for them to finally acknowledge that she was being bullied – like, to even have a meeting with the principal. 

‘There wasn’t another child involved. It was my daughter who cut her who did it to herself – but honestly, I’m just over this whole thing already.’