Snapped: Killer Couples is examining the murder of four members of the Flores family, including three children, by Monica Diaz and her boyfriend, Michael Naranjo, in Pico Rivera, California.
When Diaz was a little girl, her mother tragically died, but luckily for her, her aunt and uncle, Sylvia and Richard Flores, took her and her sister Reta in and treated them as their own daughters along with their own four children.
Diaz, when reaching 16 years old, seemingly repaid her new family by attacking them with her high school sweetheart, 17-year-old Michael Naranjo.
In the early morning hours of July 21, 2000, Naranjo and Diaz brutally killed Diaz’s uncle, 42-year-old Richard Flores, and three of his children, her cousins, 17-year-old Richard, 13-year-old Sylvia, and 10-year-old Matthew. Aunt Sylvia was also stabbed 15 times but miraculously survived the attack.
The Flores’s eldest daughter, Espie Flores, and Diaz’s sister, Reta, survived unharmed. Espie remembered being woken in the night by her father, Richard, as he stumbled through the house holding his bloodied neck. She recalled seeing Diaz on the floor beside her mother; she thought her cousin was helping her but later learned the awful truth.
The positioning of the bodies, including the two youngest children, showed they likely tried to fight off their attackers.
Michael Naranjo took the blame for Flores family murders
Diaz and Naranjo were soon arrested. Naranjo pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to life in prison. He tried to absolve his girlfriend of blame but never gave a reason for the murders.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelDiaz claimed that the plan had been to simply stage a robbery. The teenage killer said she was worried her aunt and uncle would soon get a divorce, and she thought a robbery would bring them closer together.
She said Naranjo had deviated from the plan when he began killing her family, and she said she was in the bathroom the whole time.
However, the evidence and testimony from the survivors indicated that Diaz was not in the bathroom but was present for the killings.
The prosecution also pointed to a letter written by Diaz to Naranjo that contained the words, “best job is to kill people professionally.”
Monica Diaz received four life sentences for Flores family killing
Diaz was ultimately convicted of murder and given four life sentences of 25 years each to be served consecutively. She has the chance of parole.
She has since tried to appeal the harshness of her sentence, claiming it amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. During an appeal, Presiding Justice Robert M. Mallano acknowledged Diaz’s youth and her clean criminal record but also stressed the severity of her crime.
Mallano wrote, “When her sentence is viewed in light of the number and gravity of her commitment offenses, it is not an extreme or grossly disproportionate sentence and does not violate the Eighth Amendment.”
At a re-sentencing in 2009, Sylvia Flores said of her niece, “I want her to get life — four life sentences … nothing less … I fear for this community if she were to come out.” The sentence remained the same.
Snapped: Killer Couples airs Sundays at 6/5c on Oxygen.