Girl’s Mother, Friend Charged in Slaying
A Los Angeles woman and her boyfriend were charged with murder Tuesday in connection with the death of an 8-year-old girl who authorities believe was strangled, doused with gasoline and then burned in a San Pedro park last week.
Natividad Flores, 26, and her live-in boyfriend, Alejandro Lara, 29, pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment in Los Angeles Municipal Court before Judge David S. Milton.
Lara, a short, stocky man who sobbed during the hearing, also pleaded not guilty to additional charges of physically injuring and forcing a lewd act on 8-year-old Alba Susanna Flores, and of forcing a lewd act on her 7-year-old sister, Silvana.
Silvana and her 3-year-old brother have been placed in protective custody, authorities said.
A third man arrested in the case, Martin Lopez, 25, of El Salvador, pleaded not guilty to one count of assisting the couple by pouring gasoline on the girl’s battered body, said Los Angeles County Deputy District Atty. Ryan Rainey.
Rainey said funeral arrangements for the girl were being handled by the district attorney’s Victim Witness Assistance Program and would be announced later this week.
“That girl has gone through hell since August,” Rainey said of Alba, who had arrived in this country from El Salvador three months ago.
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