Parents Convicted of Killing Daughter, 5 : Trial: Jury finds Marcos and Beatriz Morales guilty of murder in 15-year-old case on testimony of two other children.

A jury decided Monday that Marcos and Beatriz Morales killed their 5-year-old daughter Lisa more than 15 years ago and based that decision on testimony of the two surviving daughters.

Marcos Morales, 56, was found guilty of first-degree murder and Beatriz Morales, 47, was found guilty of second-degree murder.

One of the daughters, 20-year-old Monica Morales McLellan, sobbed uncontrollably as the verdict against her parents was read. Her mother looked back at McLellan and motioned to her to wipe her tears.

“I love you mom,” McLellan whispered as Beatriz Morales looked back one last time before being led away. McLellan then confronted one of the attorneys representing her mother and asked, “What happened?”

Charges against the parents were filed in 1991 after another daughter, Beatriz Morales Quintero, 22, recalled through psychotherapy that her parents had killed her sister and then buried the body, wrapped in plastic, at a Mexican beach.

Saying she was breaking a vow of secrecy demanded by her father, she told police that one night she saw Lisa floating face down in the bathtub, beside her father, and that the family later drove to Mexico to bury the child in the sand.

Lisa Morales disappeared in 1977, and no body was ever found. The Moraleses have claimed that they gave Lisa up for adoption to a Mexican couple.

Several of the jurors Monday said Quintero’s testimony was the most damaging.

Ross Dunton, the jury foreman, said that “there was no smoking gun” and that without the testimony of the daughters there wouldn’t have been a case.

Dunton said the most critical testimony came from Quintero, who said that the family had taken a car ride, that there was a garbage-type bag on the car floor in the back seat and that her feet were placed over it.

“She said she just knew her sister was in it,” Dunton said.

Another juror, who wished to remain anonymous, said the jury was convinced that the 5-year-old had been killed and possibly tortured.

“She didn’t die from natural causes,” a juror said.

The prosecution contended that Marcos Morales had a pattern of abusing Lisa which included beatings, burning with cigarettes, locking her in the car and in a darkened bathroom and calling her the devil.

The jurors discussed the possibility that Morales had tried an exorcism, Dunton said, because “the father believed that she was not really his daughter, Dunton said. “It was a real problem for him.”

Dunton said jurors grappled with Beatriz Morales’ claim that she was innocent because she had also suffered physical abuse from her husband.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Rosenblum said spousal abuse is not an excuse for murder.

“You can’t get up and say my husband beat me up, so therefore I killed my child,” Rosenblum said.

Attorney Salvatore P. Ciulla said he was surprised that jurors found his client, Beatriz Morales, guilty of second-degree murder, although he expected a lesser conviction.

“My client doesn’t know how the child died,” Ciulla said. “There has never been a body found.”

After the verdict was read, a confused Monica McLellan said that despite testifying against her parents, she never believed that they killed her younger sister and insists that it was an accident.

“I never said that they did it,” said a teary-eyed McLellan. Instead, she said, she believes that her sister drowned accidentally.

“I believe she passed away,” McLellan said. “I’m not sure how.”

Asked if she recalled any abuse at the hands of her father she replied, “He must of had his days I guess.”

McLellan said she wondered why her sister Beatriz Quintero alleged that there was a history of child abuse in her family.

“I don’t know why she did it. I’m starting to think it was for attention,” McLellan said. “I need my parents. I love them and I miss them.”

Sentencing for the Tustin couple is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 6. Marcos Morales faces a possible sentence of life imprisonment without parole. Beatriz Morales faces a term of 25 years to life imprisonment.