In a shocking incident, two sisters from Texas were captured smiling as they were detained on suspicion of fatally stabbing a mother of five in broad daylight.
The sisters, identified as Kitty Mia Diaz, aged 21, and her 19-year-old sibling Amaya Cookie Diaz, were apprehended on Thursday in Del Rio, approximately two hours from San Antonio. Their arrest followed the brutal stabbing of Caroline Peña earlier that same day, according to the Del Rio Police Department.
Police reported that officers responded to a call at Val Verde Regional Medical Center around 2:10 p.m. after Peña, affectionately known as ‘Caro’ among friends and family, had arrived suffering from multiple stab wounds.
Despite being urgently transferred to a hospital in San Antonio for surgery, the 32-year-old Peña tragically succumbed to her injuries around 9 p.m.
Investigators quickly determined the location of the stabbing within the small community, using witness statements and surveillance video to identify the suspects involved.
The Diaz sisters were seen on camera being handcuffed and being walked into police patrol cars, but as they did so, they smirked and made sure to glance at the camera.
The clip showed the young women sitting in the police vehicles for a couple of minutes as a woman identifying herself as their mother confronted the man recording the moment.
‘Can you please not record? That’s my house and those are my daughters,’ the woman told the cameraman.
Caroline Peña was stabbed to death on Thursday in broad daylight. She leaves behind her five children
Amaya Cookie Diaz is seen smirking as she was arrested over Peña’s murder
Kitty Mia Diaz, 21, appeared to smile for a moment as she looked at the ground while walking to the patrol car
She asked him to stop recording again as the clip panned to her walking away from him and toward police officers.
Along with the Diaz sisters, a third young woman, Kyandra Renee Faz, 21, was also arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing.
The three of them have each been charged with murder and taken to the GEO Correctional Facility, pending magistration, police said.
Additional charges might be added as the investigation into the fatal attack continues, officials stated.
The motive for the grizzly attack remains unclear, but Peña’s family and friends are demanding justice for their loved one.
‘This wasn’t something that happened in a back alley,’ Zelina Ochoa, Peña’s friend, told Kens5.
‘This happened at the corner near Sonic on one of our busiest roads in broad daylight.’
The mother’s friends said videos of the attack were also circulating online, but have since been taken down. One of the clips showed Peña in a blood-soaked shirt as three women surrounded her, the outlet reported.
Peña’s devastated friend said she would drop anything to help others, even when she had five kids of her own to take care of
A woman identifying herself as their mother (pictured) confronted the man recording the moment before going to speak to police
Ochoa said she first met her friend during a young parenting program that helped them learn how to navigate school after having children at a young age.
‘Me and Caro, we go way, way back. We got to take our sons to school and we did the school thing together while we had our kids to school with us,’ she recalled.
Peña’s devastated friend said she would drop anything to help others, even when she had five kids of her own to take care of.
‘If you needed something and she had it, even if it was her last, she’d give it to you,’ Ochoa added.
Lupita Garza, another friend, agreed that Peña was one of the most caring, selfless people she knew.
‘Caro was one of a kind. She helped everyone who was in need. She brought so much light to so many of us, especially her warm hugs and that one-of-a-kind laugh. She always made sure she had a smile on her face everywhere she went,’ Garza said.
Her best friend, Christina Salinas, said she was with Peña the night before she was murdered.
Kitty Mia Diaz (left), 21, and Amaya Cookie Diaz (right), 19
Another woman, Kyandra Renee Faz, 21, was also arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing
Salinas also revealed that she missed a call from her friend just before the deadly incident.
‘I feel like if I would have answered that call, honestly I would have been there with her. It wouldn’t have gotten like that,’ Salinas stated.
Peña was a mother and twin sister. Her oldest son is 17, and about to graduate, her friends said.
Although her alleged killers have been arrested, Ochoa said that won’t bring her back.
‘Those girls are in jail. Eventually they’ll see [their kids], but Caro is a memory now. Those kids were left without a mom,’ she said.
The police have asked anyone with knowledge of the confrontation to come forward with information.
The Daily Mail contacted the Del Rio Police Department for comment.