Suspect sought in 2 girls’ slayings

Police are trying to figure out who killed two sisters, ages 12 and 17, who were found with their throats slashed at a house in Sun Valley.

The girls’ mother was hospitalized with knife wounds, and the Los Angeles Police Department has described her as a “person of interest” in the slayings.

Detectives said the woman, who is in serious condition with wounds to her upper body and wrists, is not a suspect but that they want to question her.

She has not been identified.

Det. Gus Villanueva said detectives have yet to determine a motive for the slayings and that “the stabbing weapon is in custody.”

Det. Pat Barron, who oversees homicide investigations in the LAPD’s Foothill Division, said investigators want to question some other people.

Villanueva said the sisters and their mother were found about 11:40 a.m. Wednesday by police responding to a 911 call reporting an assault with a deadly weapon at a house in the 7800 block of Irvine Avenue.

Looking through a window, a visitor to the house saw one of the girls lying on the floor. One of the girls was found in the main house and the other in a garage-like building converted into living quarters. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The LAPD and the Los Angeles County coroner’s office did not identify the sisters because officials were still seeking to contact their relatives.

Villanueva said a 14-year-old sibling of the girls who also lived on the property was not at the scene and has since been accounted for by detectives.

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richard.winton@latimes.com