Three women, including two sisters, have been accused in the fatal stabbing of a 32-year-old mother of five in broad daylight, Texas authorities said.
The Del Rio Police Department announced Friday on social media that Kitty Mia Diaz, 21; Amaya Cookie Diaz, 19; and Kyandra Renee Faz, 21, had been arrested in connection with the case.
The victim, Caroline “Caro” Peña, was stabbed multiple times and arrived at Val Verde Regional Medical Center shortly after 2 p.m. local time Thursday, police said.
Because of the seriousness of her injuries, Peña was later transferred to a San Antonio medical facility for emergency surgery, but she did not survive.
Officers were called to the medical center and traced the attack to an address in Del Rio, a border city of about 35,000 residents near Mexico.
Police have not publicly disclosed a motive, while Peña’s grieving family and loved ones are pressing for answers.
“This wasn’t something that happened in a back alley. This happened at the corner near Sonic on one of our busiest roads in broad daylight,” Zelina Ochoa, Peña’s childhood friend, told KENS 5.
Ochoa said she and Peña first met as teenage mothers while attending the Cradles in the Classroom program, which supports young parents.
Peña would watch her son while she caught up on schoolwork, and later gave Ochoa baby clothes, a television, a VHS player and videotapes for her first apartment, she said.
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“If you needed something and she had it, even if it was her last, she’d give it to you,” Ochoa said.
Another close friend, Christina Salinas, said the pair had hung out the night before the murder, cooking with Peña’s daughter.
The next day, Salinas said she missed a call from Pena at 1:35 p.m., just minutes before the deadly confrontation.
“I feel like if I would have answered that call, honestly I would have been there with her. It wouldn’t have gotten like that,” Salinas said.
Salinas later recognized a picture on a community page of a woman in a bloody shirt as her best friend.
“Her hair was in the same bun. When I saw that, that’s all I needed to see was the back of her shirt. I knew it was her right off the bat,” Salinas said.
“That girl, she was a fighter. She was still standing her ground,” she added.
Salinas said she rushed to the hospital when she learned what had happened, and said goodbye to Peña, who was still talking, kissing her before she was flown to San Antonio.
Kitty Diaz and Cookie Diaz, who are sisters, were arrested at around 4 p.m. Thursday without incident, while Faz was detained a short time later and taken with the other two suspects to the Del Rio Police Department for booking and processing, according to police.
Video showing one of the Diaz sisters smiling at the camera before being put in a patrol car during her arrest was obtained by KENS 5.
Peña was pronounced dead at around 9 p.m. Thursday, and the three suspects were charged with her murder and transported to a correctional facility, where they remained pending magistration as of Friday.
