Mother of children found dead in West Hills residence charged with 3 counts of murder
A mother and a teenage boy have been arrested in the deaths of three children found unresponsive in their West Hills home.
"The family is shocked and saddened by this horrific situation," said Jane Francis, the lawyer for father Federico Yanez-Saldivar.
Angela Dawn Flores, 38, has been charged with three counts of murder for allegedly killing three of her young children at their home. She is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in Van Nuys and is being held on $6 million bail.
Police say a 16-year-old was also arrested on one count of murder and is being held without bail at Sylmar Juvenile Hall.
Authorities responded to a report of an assault with a deadly weapon at a home in the 22500 block of Victory Boulevard at about 7:40 a.m. Sunday found the three children, Natalie Flores, 12, Kevin Yanez, 10, and Nathan Yanez, 8. The cause of their deaths was not released.
The two young boys attended Ivy Charter. The school released a statement saying crisis counselors would be available on campus.
"It's really hard and sad for the school and the whole community," said parent Lividia Gonzalez.
Isabella Gabriel, Nathan's second-grade classmate, said she missed playing football with the young boy when she visited the vigil made for the dead children.
Officers told CBSLA Reporter Joy Benedict that the victims appeared to be dead for several hours, and suspected that they had died at some point on Saturday.
Neighbors told CBSLA that the mother of the children had been acting erratically on Saturday night.
The mother was heard screaming, yelling, praying and lighting candles at other homes on the street.
"I heard someone screaming, 'My family is abusing me,' and all kinds of nonsense. I couldn't make out what it was." Prisila Canales told CBSLA. "I guess at that time she was in our neighbor's yard ... burning a candle and she had the Bible out."
Blanca Hernandez lives next door and was home Saturday night when Flores began acting erratically on her front lawn, so she called 911. Flores was taken to the hospital for mental health reasons, but Hernandez didn't realize she was her neighbor.
"I never saw her, if she lived here or she lived there. I never saw her," she said.
It was seven hours later that the 16-year-old son went to another neighbor's home and said his brothers and sister were unresponsive. That's when police found them dead.
According to the LAPD, Flores admitted to killing her children with the assistance of the 16-year-old.
Canales lives just two houses down from the scene of the tragedy. She detailed the moments that the mother was taken away from the scene on a stretcher.
"She kept popping up, jumping up saying, 'Where's my Bible? Where's my Bible?" she said.
On Tuesday, Mike Vosogh property owner released a statement saying, "This is an extremely tragic and sad incident. As a father of two, I find this heart-wrenching especially because I knew the innocent young children and had met them just three weeks prior to this incident. I hope the responsible parties receive the maximum available punishment under the law.
I also want to thank my neighbors for their support, particularly the residents...for contacting the police and allowing myself and the LAPD to make use of their home. May those children rest in peace."
Francis added that the family has no other information to provide and asks that people respect their privacy.
The investigation into the murders is continuing. Anyone with information about the investigation can call the LAPD's Abused Child Section, Juvenile Division, at (213) 486-0500.
If you or someone you know needs help, contact the NAMI Helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or info@nami.org or visit https://www.nami.org/help.
