Wife Guilty in Teacher’s Death

The wife of a Banning High School teacher was convicted of killing him in their San Pedro home by beating and stabbing him.

Jurors on Tuesday found Nancy Larios, 56, guilty of murdering Luis Larios, 59, for financial gain, a special circumstance making her eligible for the death penalty. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Arthur Jean immediately sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Larios marriage had been troubled for years, investigators said. On Aug. 22, 2004, the couple were watching television and drinking brandy in an upstairs bedroom when Larios said she was annoyed with her husband for playing with his beard.

She used duct tape to strap him into an office chair, hit him in the head with what may have been an iron and jabbed scissors into his eye, prosecutors said. Larios then dragged him downstairs to make it appear that he fell, and spent anywhere from half an hour to four hours cleaning up, bandaging his eye and attempting to call a priest, witnesses testified.