2 Will Stand Trial in Abuse, Death of Girl

The mother of an 8-year-old girl, whose smoldering body was found in a San Pedro park earlier this year, and the woman’s common-law husband have been ordered to stand trial for murder and sexual assault.

Natividad Flores, 26, and Alejandro Lara, 29, are accused of murdering Alba Susanna Flores. Lara also is charged with child abuse and the commission of lewd acts on a minor. The charges stem from alleged attacks on Alba and her 7-year-old sister.

Alba Flores was sent from El Salvador to live with her mother a year ago, after her father was reportedly killed in that country’s civil war. The child’s body was found burning in Alma Park in San Pedro on May 11.

She had been strangled before being set afire, coroner’s officials said. An autopsy also determined that her body showed evidence of having been sexually molested.

Natividad Flores, who is seven months pregnant, originally told police that Alba had disappeared after she refused to give her money for ice cream, investigators said. But the mother later changed her story, officers said, saying Alba was punished for “misbehaving” and refusing to take a bath.