WOODLAND HILLS—The timeline in which the Los Angeles Police Department discovered the bodies of three children inside their home on Sunday, May 8 is being further investigated. The children’s mother, Angela Dawn Flores, 38, was detained by officers for “disturbing the peace,” and taken to the hospital the night before the three children’s bodies were discovered by authorities – the bodies were found seven hours later.
On Saturday, May 7, around 11:45 p.m., the LAPD’s Topanga Division responded to a call that there was a woman – later identified as Angela Flores – disturbing the peace on Sale Avenue north of Victory Boulevard.
The reporting party told responding officers that Flores was in front of a home they believed she lived at. Upon arriving, officers learned that it was not her home and the resident of the home did not know Flores, the LAPD indicated in a statement.
According to the LAPD, officers determined that Flores needed medical treatment and summoned paramedics from the Los Angeles Fire Department to the scene, to transport Flores to the hospital. Flores was reportedly difficult to contain and had to be restrained on a stretcher. Officers released Flores to the care of the hospital.
It was later reported that prior to officers arriving at the scene, neighbors heard a lot of yelling from a house late Saturday night and witnessed Flores lighting a candle and reading a bible in a neighbor’s yard.
Neighbor Pricila Canales, who lives two houses away, said that she heard Flores yelling “My family is abusing me!” at around 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night. “They brought her out on the stretcher and she would just pop up out of nowhere yelling “where’s my bible?,” Canales said.
On Sunday, May 8 – at around 7:40 a.m., the LAPD received a 911 call reporting an Assault With A Deadly Weapon suspect at a residence in the 22500 block of Victory Blvd.
A teenage boy – later identified as Flores’s 16-year-old son showed up at a neighbors’ house that morning and told the resident that his siblings “had been hurt,” the Los Angeles Times reported. The neighbor followed the boy to where he said he lived and discovered the bodies of three children. The neighbor called the police at this time.
Seven hours after the incident with Flores, authorities arrived back on the same block, and found three children – later identified as Natalie Flores, 12; Kevin Yanez, 10; and Nathan Yanez, 8 – dead inside the residence.
By 9:10 p.m., Flores was arrested and brought in for questioning about the triple homicide. During the subsequent investigation, Flores confessed to killing Natalie, Kevin and Nathan with the help of her 16-year-old son, whose identity is being withheld. Flores reportedly claimed to believe that her children were possessed by demons.
According to the LAPD release, Flores was arrested for three counts of 187(a) PC, Murder, and booked at Van Nuys Jail. Flores is being held on $6,000,000 bail. The 16-year-old was arrested for one count of 187(a) PC, Murder, and is being held without bail at Sylmar Juvenile Hall.
It is unclear why authorities did not determine the night before where Flores lived and do a welfare check at her home. It is not known if the three children were still alive at the time authorities first detained Flores.
The Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office has not released additional details beyond the names and ages of the victims – the cause of death or at what time they died have not been disclosed to the public.
The children’s relatives have started a GoFundMe to cover funeral expenses for the three victims.
Flores appeared before a Van Nuys court on Wednesday, May 11. She is set to be arraigned on August 10.
