WHITTIER, Calif. - A 16-year-old girl and her boyfriend entered innocent pleas Friday in the stabbing deaths of the girl's father and three of her siblings.
The July 21 attack shook the quiet Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, where the victims all lived, and briefly led to neighbors abandoning a decades-old practice of leaving their doors unlocked at night.
Within days, however, police concluded that Monica Diaz and her 17-year-old boyfriend, Michael Naranjo, were responsible. Authorities believe they became enraged when Monica's parents refused to allow her and Michael to go away together for a weekend.
The teens, dressed in orange jail jumpsuits, stood quietly as their lawyers entered innocent pleas on their behalf. They face a maximum of life in prison without parole if convicted.
Monica's mother, Sylvia Flores, who was wounded in the attack, attended Friday's hearing in a wheelchair, crying throughout most of it.
Her husband, Richard Flores, 42; their sons, Richard Jr., 17, and Matthew, 10, and their 13-year-old daughter, Sylvia, were killed as they slept. Two of the couple's other daughters were unharmed.
The teen-agers, who are being held without bail, were ordered to return to court Sept. 19 for a preliminary hearing.
