1999 would see no Thanksgiving celebration for busy Los Angeles rheumatologist Xavier Caro, since on the Monday preceding the traditional holiday, he was to return home to find three of his four sons shot to death. His wife Socorro was found there also, with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
It would come out in the trial that Socorro intended to kill all four sons, and then commit suicide. As it turned out, though, she had to use two of her five available bullets on 5-year-old Christopher. For this reason, and this reason only, the life of Gabriel, then 13 months, was spared.
As the facts emerged, Xavier had decided to divorce Socorro, who contrary to the usual “family and friends” testimony as to her loving mother persona, was described by her husband as a “vicious individual with an incredible temper.” “She’s very, very volatile, and very vindictive. If you ever crossed Cora (her nickname), she would not rest until she got revenge.” An argument over his affair with a co-worker, and their failing marriage, was to push Cora over the edge.
To put it another way, Socorro was an abusive spouse, probably a husband-beater, at that. To some, this sounds mildly amusing, until you consider what the husband is supposed to do about it. If he attempts to restrain her, he would very likely be brought up on abuse charges himself. Indeed, there are numerous cases of couples with tempestuous relationships whereby a simple phone call to the police, and no evidence other than the woman’s statement, is sufficient to send her mate to the slammer for at least one night.
If he attempts to report the abuse, he will either be laughed at, or simply not believed. At best, he will be advised to re-contact the authorities if something happens. And so he did.
One constant in all high profile murder cases with an obviously guilty perp, is the hallelujah chorus of defenders, rallying to his or her side. Despite phone records and overwhelming forensics pointing to none other than Cora, many of her relatives remain convinced that Xavier did it. Amazingly, that was even the strategy of her defense team for awhile, until they changed to an insanity plea, and finally moved for a retrial, which was denied.
Cora herself continues to protest her innocence, and expressed this in a violent and ridiculous outburst after her death sentence was upheld just a few days ago.
You didn’t see the feminists rushing to back her cause, and, in fact, you probably didn’t see much of this case at all, since it didn’t fit the PC mold. Granted, a triple child murder is impossible to keep off the media radar screen entirely, but the libs and pinks couldn’t spin this one to their favor.
After all, the wife was the abuser, and this Hispanic family was well-to-do, living in a million dollar home, quite removed from the hood. It didn’t help either that the shopworn Southern California stereotype of Americanized Latina plus dollars equals harridan wife was played out to the most frightful degree possible.
If your senses are dulled by news reports of suicide bombers, behold, then, the most evil offender that could ever be: A mother who would kill her own children! There was no motive in this crime except pure hate, directed at innocents–Joey(11), Michael(8), and Christopher(5).
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescant in pace. Amen.