A mother of five fought desperately for her life after police say she was surrounded and stabbed repeatedly in broad daylight by two sisters and a friend.
Caroline “Caro” Peña, 32, died Thursday evening after sustaining multiple stab wounds in an attack that authorities said occurred shortly after 2 p.m. in Del Rio, Texas.
Zelina Ochoa, a grieving friend of Peña, described the mother’s final moments as a devastating struggle to survive.
Witnesses were left stunned as violence broke out at one of the city’s busiest intersections, where Peña was brutally attacked, according to the Del Rio Police Department.
Kitty Mia Diaz, 21, her sister Amaya Cookie Diaz, 19, and their friend Kyandra Renee Faz, 21, were arrested Thursday in Del Rio, about two hours from San Antonio, and each has been charged with murder in connection with Peña’s death.
The three women remain in custody on bonds totaling $15 million as the criminal case moves forward.
Authorities have not disclosed a motive for the violent attack, while Peña’s relatives and friends continue to call for justice.
Ochoa, who said she had known Peña for years, recalled one particularly haunting image from the attack that she said she cannot shake.
Caroline Peña was stabbed to death on Thursday in broad daylight. She leaves behind her five children
Kitty Mia Diaz (left), 21, and Amaya Cookie Diaz (right), 19 have both been arrested
Another woman, Kyandra Renee Faz, 21, was also arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing
According to Ochoa, a photograph taken while the stabbing unfolded appeared on a local Facebook page before later being removed.
She said seeing the image was the first indication that something had gone terribly wrong.
‘It’s a photo of her standing up and you see the back side of her, and her shirt in the back is completely filled with blood,’ Ochoa told the New York Post.
She said the image showed the three women standing in front of Peña.
‘The three girls are in front of her – they’re surrounding her,’ Ochoa explained.
Ochoa says the photograph captured what she believes were Peña’s final attempts to survive.
‘She had just collapsed and she stood right back up,’ she said. ‘She was a fighter.’
Ochoa said the image was especially difficult to process because she believes it illustrated the imbalance between the alleged attackers and the victim.
‘It’s a very powerful picture because it shows, you know, these three girls showed up with their weapons and Caro showed up with nothing but her hands,’ she said.
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‘She didn’t show up there thinking that today is my last day.’
Peña was initially taken to a local hospital before being transferred to a hospital in San Antonio, where she later died from her injuries at about 9pm on Thursday.
Ochoa, who said she has known Peña since they were both teenage mothers, said the photograph remained online for several hours before it was deleted after news spread that she had died.
During that time, she said numerous people claiming to have witnessed the attack posted comments describing what they had seen.
The alleged stabbing unfolded at a busy intersection near a Sonic restaurant, an area Ochoa said is rarely quiet during the day.
‘Where this incident occurred, it’s a very busy intersection. It’s on the main street of our town, so there were a lot of passersby,’ she said.
‘This wasn’t something that was done in an alley at 12am – this was done in broad daylight on the busiest intersection.’
Based on comments from people who identified themselves as witnesses, Ochoa said the violence appeared to begin almost instantly.
‘There was really no verbal altercation,’ she recalled reading before adding, ‘it went from 0 to 100 very quickly.’
Kitty Mia Diaz, 21, appeared to smile for a moment as she looked at the ground while walking to the patrol car
Amaya Cookie Diaz is seen smirking as she was arrested over Peña’s murder
‘It confused a lot of people because it happened so quick and everybody was like, “Wait, hold on, what did we just witness?”‘
The Diaz sisters were seen on camera being handcuffed and being walked into police patrol cars, but as they did so, they smirked and made sure to glance at the camera.
Police have not announced what they believe prompted the fatal confrontation but The Post reports Faz told police that Pena had ‘arrived at her residence looking to start a fight.’
Investigators say there is surveillance footage that shows Peña’s black Dodge pickup truck driving up to Faz’s house. The Diaz sisters then showed up shortly after.
Ochoa said those who knew Peña are still searching for answers.
‘Caro was not the type to go to the clubs or be involved in any type of altercation or drama or anything like that – that’s just not who she was,’ she said.
‘She was that one friend that tried to bring peace among everyone, so it’s just so confusing how this even happened.’
‘I don’t know if it was just an unlucky day and she happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time – I really don’t know.’
Peña’s five children, who range in age from 17 to three years old are now without a mother.
Ochoa said she struggles to understand why another mother would act like this.
‘It’s very unclear as to why a mother would do this to another mother and why she herself wouldn’t consider her own son,’ she said, referring to Kitty Diaz.
‘She’s still gonna see her son grow up through the glass and Caro’s kids are only gonna have a tombstone.’
A GoFundMe has been set up to help support Peña’s children, two of whom are described in the fundraiser as autistic.
Ochoa said no amount of financial support, or even a criminal conviction, will erase the loss suffered by the family Peña leaves behind.
‘She was one of those people that were born to be a mom…she made it look so easy,’ Ochoa said.
‘Everyone says your kids love you, but her kids really love her. She wasn’t just their mom – she was their friend… her life was her children.’
The police have asked anyone with knowledge of the confrontation to come forward with information. The investigation remains ongoing.
