Dora Buenrostro and Alex Buenrostro had been together for 17 years, living in Los Angeles, California. The couple went on to have three children - Susana, 9, Vicente, 8, and Deidra, 4. Eventually the marriage broke down and Alex moved out of the marital home. The breakup was particularly messy with both parties spewing insults at one another. Dora moved from Los Angeles to San Jacinto with the children and Alex stayed in contact, regularly visiting. 

On the 27th of October, 1994, Alex was arrested as he left work. He was placed in handcuffs as reporters shouted questions to him about his children. He would soon discover that his two eldest children had been stabbed to death and the youngest was missing. Susana and Vincete were found at Dora’s home with stab wounds to their necks. Hours later, Deidra was found strapped into a child’s car seat with a broken knife blade in her neck. She had been dumped at an abandoned post office in Lakeview west of San Jacinto. After she was stabbed in the neck, she was stabbed several times with a ballpoint pen.

Dora had rushed to the police station and claimed that Alex had killed their children. However, an investigation would prove that Alex was in Los Angeles at the time of the slayings and all evidence pointed towards Dora being the killer. Blood of the children was found in her car and purse - she claimed it was planted there. During her trial, Dora showed a clear lack of remorse. It was put forward that she had killed the children after an argument with Alex. The prosecution argued she had planned the killings to hurt Alex and then tried to implicate him. She was found guilty and sentenced to death.