Letters About Killing Were Fantasy, Defendant Says

A woman accused of helping murder four members of her family testified Wednesday that letters to her boyfriend in which she said she wanted to kill people were mere “fantasy.”

Defense attorneys in the trial of Monica Diaz -- who was 16 when the slayings occurred -- portray her as having been an emotionally naive girl under the control of her first love, Michael Naranjo, who is serving five life sentences for the crimes.

The lawyers contend that Diaz agreed only to help stage a burglary, but that Naranjo went too far.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin McCormick has argued that the letters and other physical evidence show that Diaz, now 20, knowingly participated in the murders.

Her uncle, Richard Flores, 42, and his children Richard Jr., 17; Sylvia, 13; and Matthew, 10, were stabbed to death in July 2000 while they slept at their Pico Rivera home.

During cross-examination Wednesday, McCormick repeatedly questioned Diaz about various letters.

In one, she wrote that she hoped for her relationship with Naranjo to be like that of the couple in the movie “Natural Born Killers.” Those characters were serial killers.

That “would be like your marriage, right?” McCormick asked Diaz.

“Yes,” she replied.

But in response to questions from defense lawyer Louis Sepe, Diaz said her references to murder were fantasies similar to her writings about her wish to live on an island.

The defense contends that Diaz was scared that her aunt and uncle -- with whom she lived -- might get a divorce. The attorneys say Naranjo convinced her that a staged burglary might frighten the couple into staying together.

Diaz said that she and Naranjo first attempted to stage the burglary 11 days before the murders but that she changed her mind when he was already in the house.

Later “he kept trying to persuade me,” Diaz said. “He kept asking, ‘Why don’t you want my help?’ I felt guilty because I was refusing his help.”

McCormick also questioned the contention that Naranjo was a strong influence on her because he was her first love. The prosecutor asked Diaz whether she in fact had had 14 other romantic relationships -- including three intimate ones -- before Naranjo.

“Yes,” Diaz said. But “those were just relationships.”

McCormick also suggested that the five 8-inch strips of duct tape that Diaz cut for Naranjo the night of the killings were more consistent with a murder plot than a burglary.

The strips, the prosecutor indicated, were too short to bind the hands and feet of the victims, as Diaz testified she and Naranjo had planned.

They seemed more appropriate, McCormick suggested, for covering the victims’ mouths so they would not scream as they were being stabbed.

When McCormick asked where she got the tape, how she knew how many pieces to cut and what length to make them, Diaz responded that she didn’t remember.