Suspect in Shootings Seeks Lawyer

A woman suspected of killing three of her sons and then shooting herself in the head refused to answer questions and asked for a lawyer while awaiting surgery, authorities said Wednesday.

Socorro “Cora” Caro, 42, of Santa Rosa Valley, the wife of a prominent physician, is suspected of shooting her three school-age sons in the head while they slept Monday night, then sparing the life of her toddler son, authorities said.

“She very quickly asked for an attorney,” Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks said. “So I don’t think we’ll have any direct statement from her.”

Brooks said Caro, who remains in serious condition, is the only suspect at this point.

After word of the shooting spread, shocked friends said Caro had been a devoted, stay-at-home mother, school volunteer and churchgoer. But some current and former co-workers described her Wednesday as a harsh, temperamental manager who ran her husband’s office near the Northridge Hospital Medical Center with an iron hand.

Dr. Xavier Caro, 52, returned home from that office about 11:20 p.m. Monday to find his sons dead in their beds, his wife shot and bleeding from the head and a small revolver lying nearby.

He has cooperated fully with investigators, and nothing suggests that he was involved in the slayings, the sheriff said.

“At this time the husband is not being looked at as a suspect,” Brooks said. “But I hate to say she will be the only suspect. We just don’t have enough information to be definitive on that. She’s going to be the prime source of information and right now we’re not receiving any [from her].”

Cora Caro, who lived in a luxury ridge-top home, was an elegant, well-dressed woman who always carried herself regally, co-workers said. But there also were signs that she was deeply troubled, they said.

Cora Caro, who stopped working a few months ago, made jokes and sarcastic remarks about being on antidepressant drugs such as Prozac and Xanax, co-workers said.

“She had her fits if things didn’t go her way. She was cold. She was almost like a spoiled kid,” said nurse Nicole Ledet, who had worked four years for Dr. Caro when she was fired after an argument with Cora Caro in April. “People have walked out of there crying because of her.”

The office has had a high turnover rate because of Caro’s volatile temper, the current and former employees said.

They described Dr. Caro as almost his wife’s opposite: a gentle, easygoing man and a rheumatologist so respected that patients drive long distances and fly from other states to see him.

Xavier Caro doted on his children, they said. He often left work early so he could attend the soccer games of his oldest son, Joseph. Last year, the doctor stood in line to buy “Star Wars” movie tickets for his children. More recently, he sat through the Pokemon movie with them.

“He was like a super dad,” Ledet said.

The Caros have a history of marital problems, sheriff’s investigators have been told. But a source close to the investigation said that those problems did not involve extramarital affairs.

“There is no evidence of any other parties involved,” the source said. “Just reports of tension between the two of them. . . . And if the [crime] motive was anger against the husband, we have to deal with the possibility that she may accuse him. We have to look at both sides of this thing very carefully.”

Although doctors removed a breathing tube from her throat Wednesday, Cora Caro hardly speaks at all, hospital spokeswoman Kris Carraway-Bowman said.

Caro is lucky, Carraway-Bowman said, because a bullet entered her right upper skull, ricocheted and missed her brain. “We did a CAT scan and her brain is fine, healthy.”

Only family members would be allowed to visit Cora Caro, but none had come to see her by late Wednesday.

“It’s been unusually quiet,” Carraway-Bowman said.

Even sheriff’s investigators, who arrived at 8:30 a.m. to question her, left before long. And a county prosecutor who was at the hospital Tuesday did not return Wednesday. “They’ll make an arrest when they have all the details,” the sheriff said.

The coroner’s autopsy showed that the three Caro boys, Christopher, 5, Michael, 8, and Joseph, 11, were killed by single gunshot wounds to the head. Other physical evidence, such the small revolver, is still being examined, Brooks said. The handgun was kept as a household weapon.

“Obviously, the physical evidence is there and readily retrievable,” Brooks said. “And we’re getting background on the persons involved.”

Relatives and friends have given conflicting information about Cora Caro, he said. Some describe her as happy and involved with her sons and community. But others contradict that rosy picture, he said.

Xavier Caro’s statement about what he saw when he came home is also an important piece of the puzzle, the sheriff said. But his wife might dispute it.

“We still don’t know exactly what happened,” he said. “We only have one person’s version, and the other person is not talking to us.”

Times staff writers Margaret Talev and Tina Dirmann contributed to this story.