2 Girls Held in Woman’s Death, Burning of Child

Two teen-age girls were arrested early Thursday as accomplices in the murder of a Rowland Heights woman, whose 6-year-old daughter was set ablaze to eliminate the only witness, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

The girls, ages 16 and 17, were not identified because they are minors. They are believed to be friends of Glynnis McKinney, who was arrested with the dead woman’s husband in what appears to be a romance-motivated killing, sheriff’s deputies said.

“There was some kind of love triangle involvement, and apparently McKinney enlisted the aide of two female juveniles” to help in the crime, Sheriff’s Deputy Dave Logan said.

McKinney, a 26-year-old preschool operator from Gardena, and Ted Perez Sr., 30, were booked Wednesday on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and kidnaping. The teen-agers were booked Thursday in connection with the death of 29-year-old Rachel Perez, whose charred body was found at McKinney’s home in the 13000 block of South Crocker Avenue, Deputy Bob Nimtz said.

“Their connection seems to be they were instrumental to getting her to the Crocker Avenue address,” he said.

Nimtz said that a preliminary Los Angeles County coroner’s finding indicates that Rachel Perez died of drowning before her body was set ablaze. Nimtz said investigators do not know whether she was dead before reaching McKinney’s home.

The adults were scheduled to be arraigned today in Compton Municipal Court, while the teen-agers were slated for arraignment in Long Beach Superior Court, Nimtz said.

Quiana Marie Cortinez, the dead woman’s daughter, suffered second- and third-degree burns over 36% of her body. She was listed in critical condition Thursday at County-USC Medical Center, and hospital spokeswoman Adelaida De La Cerda said her feet may be amputated because of the severity of her injuries.

The little girl was discovered ablaze early Wednesday in an industrial area near Central Avenue and the Santa Monica Freeway. The body of her mother was discovered by McKinney’s neighbors who saw smoke in her backyard and put out the fire before making the grisly discovery.

Investigators were at a loss to explain why the murderers chose to burn the woman’s body in McKinney’s backyard.

“Why don’t have have any idea why,” Logan said. “There’s a lot about this whole case that would defy logic.”

It is believed that Quiana Cortinez, who gave authorities a description of her assailant, was burned because she witnessed the crime, Logan said. Her two half-brothers, Quincy Perez, 3, and Ted Perez Jr., 4, were abandoned in a Whittier shopping center because they were too young to describe what happened, he said.

Neither sheriff’s investigators nor juvenile court authorities would comment on a report from Los Angeles juvenile detectives that the girl had been burned once before. Charlene Saunders, dependency coordinator for Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, confirmed that Quiana Cortinez had been a ward of the court earlier this year but could not disclose the circumstances.

One of the neighbors who discovered the body, Lucille Williams, said a teen-age girl had lived with McKinney since she moved into the house two months ago.

“The girl was in the house and came to the window when we knocked,” Williams said. “She ran back inside when we found the body.”