By Chujun Tang
LOS ANGELES, CA – Angela Flores, 38, was charged May 10 with three counts of murder in connections with the deaths of Natalie Flores, 12, Kevin Yanez, 10, and Nathan Yanez, 8.
The Los Angeles Police Department responded to a call reporting an assault at the home in San Fernando Valley County on the prior Sunday morning and found three victims unresponsive. The cause and date of deaths has not yet been released, but paramedics announced that the children’s ages ranged from 8 to 12.
“We all grieve for these children. The loss of their young lives is a tragedy that has affected our entire community,” said Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón. Angela Flores and a 16-year-old subject were detained Monday for further investigation. Angela Flores, the mother of the three children, murdered them with the assistance of the teen, said the police.
It was not certain whether a lawyer would speak on Flores’ behalf, and online jail records indicated that she was detained on a 6 million dollar bail. The teen, who proved to be Flores’ son, remained held in Sylmar Juvenile Hall without bail.
The LAPD’s handling of the case is also receiving severe criticism. On Saturday night, LAPD received a “disturbing the peace” call. Neighbors were alarmed when they saw Flores lighting handles and screaming in a stranger’s yard. They called 911 and paramedics arrived and took her away. It was then confirmed that Flores needed medical treatment. However, it turned out that the LAPD overlooked the examination of her three children’s well-being at that time—seven hours before the murders.
It is uncertain whether the children were still clinging to life when the police found Flores raving in the stranger’s yard. Asked about the negligence, LAPD Capt. Gisselle Espinoza replied, “Timelines and specifics are still under investigation and not authorized for release by investigations at this time.”
Neighbor Blanca Hernandez told the police that police arrived at Flores’s home when she was screaming “where is my Bible?!”
“Then she said, ‘You know, you know, I killed my kids,’” Hernandez said. “But they [thought] she was crazy. The police, they [thought] that she was crazy.”
Flores claimed to believe that her children were possessed by demons, so that she jumped on the kids repeatedly to drive them out.
Jacob Corona, Flores’s ex-husband, who shares a child with Flores, said that he had spoken with Flores a week before the murder, “She was telling me all this stuff about God. I don’t really know what happened…she was not really religious before. But then she was talking about death.”
Flores made an initial appearance Wednesday, and delayed her arraignment until August 10. The teen subject, who has not been identified, appeared in juvenile court and denied a petition accusing him of the murder of one of his siblings.
