Father of Slain Children Seeks Divorce

Citing “irreconcilable differences,” Dr. Xavier Caro has filed for divorce from Socorro “Cora” Caro, who remains the sole suspect in the slaying of the couple’s three oldest children.

Xavier Caro, a 52-year-old staff physician at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, filed a petition to end his marriage of 13 years late Wednesday, according to Ventura County Superior Court records.

Caro listed the couple’s date of separation as Nov. 22--the day his wife allegedly shot three of their sons as they slept in the family’s ridge-top Santa Rosa Valley home.

Killed were Christopher, 5, Michael, 8, and Joseph, 11.

Xavier Caro found the three boys dead in their beds and his wife bleeding in the master bedroom when he came home at about 11:20 p.m., authorities said. The father is seeking legal custody of the couple’s remaining 13-month-old child, Gabriel, who was not harmed.

Socorro Caro remained hospitalized Thursday from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, officials said. They said she was recovering well after surgery on Tuesday.