Woman Kills Couple, Steals Baby

A Chicago-area woman and two accomplices stabbed a couple to death to steal their 2-month-old baby, police said Sunday.

Adriana Mejia, 22, convinced her cousin, Arturo Leon, and their housemate, Gabriel Solache, to help her kill factory worker Mariano Soto and his wife, Jacinita, in the early morning hours of March 28, police said.

The motive, they say, was to steal the couple's new baby, Guadalupe Marie, whom Mejia had spotted with her mother at a Chicago health clinic one day earlier.

"It's an unbelievable story," said Kevin Morison, a police spokesman.

Mejia, also a factory worker, had been trying unsuccessfully to have a baby of her own since she got married four years ago, police said.

They say she fooled her husband and friends into believing she was pregnant and, after deciding upon the Sotos' baby, told him she was going to the hospital to have her baby.

"She said, 'I've had a baby girl. Pick me up in the morning,"' said Police Commander Philip Cline.

Cline said he believes the Sotos' killings and the abduction of their children were premeditated.

"She said they knew they were going to have to kill the parents to get the baby," Cline said of Mejia, who also would be eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

All three suspects have admitted their role in the killings to police, Cline said.

They told police that, in the predawn hours of March 28, Mejia led Leon and Solache to the Sotos' apartment. Mrs. Soto answered the door and was stabbed to death with one of two knives taken to the scene. Mariano Soto was then stabbed to death while he slept, and the three then abducted the girl and her 3-year-old brother, Santiago, Cline said.

When Mejia's 23-year-old husband, Rosauro, picked her up later that day and asked about the boy, Mejia said she was caring for him because his mother had complications with her pregnancy, Cline said.

The couple's bodies were found Wednesday, and a far-reaching search began for the children.

Rosauro Mejia saw the boy's picture in media reports about the case and took him to a police station Friday, accompanied by Leon and Solache.

"They felt that would take the heat off them," Cline said of the two suspects.

Mejia did not realize the girl she had abducted was actually the one being sought, Cline said. The baby was found unharmed in the Mejias' home on Chicago's Southwest Side Friday.

The children probably will be placed in foster care, said Reginald Marsh, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Police say Adriana Mejia paid Leon, 25, $600 to help with the plot, Cline said. It was not clear whether Leon planned to split the money with Solache, who is 23.

Adriana Mejia, Leon and Solache were charged Sunday with first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping and home invasion. They were being held without bail pending court appearanes scheduled Monday.

Rosauro Mejia was not charged with a crime.

By Martha Irvine.
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