Two Sisters Slain, Brother Wounded in Knife Attack

Two teen-age sisters were slain and their 13-year-old brother was wounded early Friday in a knife attack in their Linda Vista home, San Diego police reported. The 2-year-old daughter of one of the sisters was found unharmed in her bed.

Lt. Paul Ybarrondo said the stabbings were discovered at 5:35 a.m. by the victims’ mother, Clarinda Pearl Cvengros, when she returned to the house in the 2300 block of Gatling Court after being out for the night.

Cvengros entered her bedroom and found her wounded and bleeding son, David, on the bed, his body covered with blankets, Ybarrondo said.

Cvengros then went across the hall to her son’s room and found the nude body of her 18-year-old daughter Tina, who suffered multiple stab wounds to the back, lying on the floor.

The woman then summoned police, who found the body of 15-year-old Lori, wearing only shoes and covered with blankets, on a bed next to her sister’s body. Lori was an honor student at Morse High School.

Tina Cvengros’ 2-year-old daughter, Christina, was found unharmed in a third bedroom of the house, Ybarrondo said.

David, who was listed in good condition at Children’s Hospital, was conscious when his mother found him and talked briefly with her. He was interviewed by detectives later Friday, but Ybarrondo declined to reveal what was learned from the boy or say whether he had identified the assailant.

The girls may have been sexually assaulted, Ybarrondo said, but that must be confirmed by autopsies and laboratory tests. The initial report by Chuck Bolton, a deputy coroner, found possible evidence of sexual assault.

Homicide investigators recovered bloody butcher knives in the bedroom where the girls were found and on the bed where David was found, Ybarrondo said.

Ybarrondo said blood was found throughout the house. He added that there was no evidence of theft or forced entry.

The victims’ mother is divorced and was living alone with her three children and granddaughter, Ybarrondo said. Her ex-husband (believed to be the father of the victims) is remarried and living in the eastern United States, he added.

Neighbors said the Cvengroses had moved into the neighborhood a little over a year ago and had kept to themselves, although a neighbor said the family had frequent visitors.

“I was shocked to hear about the killings,” neighbor Maria Zaragoza said. “I didn’t think something like this would happen in this neighborhood.”

Zaragoza, standing next to a sign in her window that read “Criminal Beware,” said she saw a light on in the Cvengroses’ living room about 2:15 a.m. as she was taking her trash to the curb. She said she went to bed at 3:30 a.m. and heard no unusual noises from the Cvengros home.

She added that she noticed nothing unusual in the “normally quiet” neighborhood as she took out the trash.

A homicide detective at the scene said the attack occurred about 4:30 a.m.

A neighbor who requested anonymity said most neighbors she had talked with did not know the family and were unaware that four children lived in the house.

“Sometimes I would see (Tina) pushing her daughter in a stroller around the block, but other than that, they kept mostly to themselves,” the woman said.

Lori was enrolled in a science and engineering magnet program at Morse High in Southeast San Diego, where the sophomore was an honor student and a member of the cross-country and track teams, Vice Principal Norm Kellner said.

“I usually know the kids around here who are in trouble,” Kellner said, “and I never had any trouble” with Lori.