Officials: Girl, 9, Was Murdered By Her Stepfather
LONG BEACH (CBS) — Authorities in Long Beach now confirm that the 9-year-old girl who was murdered Saturday was slain by her stepfather.
Officials say a passerby called 911 at 11 a.m. after reportedly seeing a bloodied body in the 5900 block of Willow Street.
The deceased girl, who has now been identified as Xioamara Jonsales Fernandez, was stabbed several times in the upper torso.
Amanda Burden, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9 from the scene, spoke to the woman who found the girl "covered in blood" in the parking lot of the Los Altos Methodist Church.
The man, whom they say was responsible for the girl's murder, had self-inflicted wounds as the result of a suicide attempt.
Nancy Eomurian, the woman who discovered the bodies was understandably upset. "They were both face down. There was a lot of blood." She had trouble looking at the crime scene. "There was a lot of blood by him, there was blood on her from the backside which I could see, which was not good. And then I'm sitting here and I went to see if she was breathing or not and she wasn't."
Eomurian, ironically, was on her way to give blood.
She says it's hard to get the image of the bloodied girl out of her mind. "When you see this young person so small, I think of [my] granddaughters..."
Authorities say the man is expected to survive. Police say he has been placed under arrest. Investigators have yet to explain the man's motive.
Cristy Fajardo, reporting for CBS2 and KCAL9, spoke to the victim's family Sunday.
They identify the girl's killer as Jacinto Trujillo, 31.
Sulma Tovar, one of Xiomara's five grieving sisters, told Fajardo that her sister "was going to turn ten on June 12th. She didn't get the chance."
The girl's mother, Graciela Fernandez, said her husband "never did anything to me or the girls." She added, "I don't want to see him. I never want to speak to him again."
The alleged killer never showed signs of violent tendencies but some family members told Fajardo that lately he was "acting crazy and using drugs."
