PICO RIVERA, Calif. - More than 1,000 people packed a church Sunday to remember a father and his three children who were stabbed to death in their home.
Absent from the service was the wife and mother of the victims, who remained hospitalized with stab wounds. Three other children who survived the attack were among the mourners.
Authorities were called to the home of Richard Flores around 3 a.m. Friday after one of the daughters woke and was urged by her wounded mother to call 911. When sheriffs arrived they found the bodies of Flores, 42, and three of his children, Richard, 17; Sylvia, 13; and Matthew, 10.
No motive or suspect has been determined.
Flores' wife Sylvia, 39, told police she saw a young man wearing a blue bandanna stabbing her husband, but said she could not identify the attacker. A bloody knife was found outside the back door. Nothing appeared to be taken from the home.
Neighbors said the Floreses were a model family. The father coached youth baseball, basketball and football, and the mother taught religious classes. Two of the children are Mrs. Flores' nieces and were adopted by the couple after their mother died.
''They were the ideal picture of the Norman Rockwell family,'' said mourner Ruben Casas.
Mourners left dozens of candles, bouquets and handwritten notes outside the family's home.
