Corona man held in stabbing deaths of his 2 daughters

A 39-year-old Corona man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of fatally stabbing his two young daughters and seriously wounding his wife, police said.

The 2-month-old and 6-year-old girls died despite efforts to save them after the attack at the family’s home in the 700 block of Via Paraiso, police said. They were pronounced dead shortly after arriving at Corona Regional Medical Center.

Their 33-year-old mother, Irene Gonzalez, was reported in serious condition at Riverside Community Hospital.

The suspect, Amado Esqueda, a food truck driver, also suffered stab wounds and was in stable condition at Riverside County Regional Medical Center. He was booked on suspicion of homicide, said police spokesman Sgt. Jerry Pawluczenko.

Gregg Bernhard, 42, who lives two doors down in the quiet neighborhood, said he had been awakened about 2:30 a.m. Thursday by a woman screaming. “It went on for 10 minutes, off and on,” he said. “It was bad. I couldn’t sleep.”

Bernhard said he did not call police, however, because “I didn’t know it was so close.”

Another neighbor told reporters that she was awakened shortly before 7 a.m. Saturday by a woman screaming “muerte, muerte” -- Spanish for death.

Bernhard, who has lived on the tree-lined street of Mediterranean-style homes for eight years, said he has never heard of any violent crime in the area.

Several neighbors said they have observed the Esqueda family holding backyard barbecues, and never knew of any trouble before.

Pawluczenko said a 911 call from the house came in at 6:48 a.m., with a distraught woman, speaking Spanish, telling dispatchers that “she was being stabbed and her children were being stabbed.”

Yellow police tape surrounded the peach-colored, two-story house with its well-tended lawn as investigators milled about Saturday.

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margot.roosevelt @latimes.com