Transcript of BONUS: Monica Diaz and Michael Naranjo (Snapped: Killer Couples)

Hello, I'm John Robbins, comedian and host of WNDRI's How Do You Cope podcast. I'm also, Plot Twist, an alcoholic. I've written a book, Thirst: 12 Drinks That Change My Life, published by Penguin. Thirst is a book about alcohol. It's mystery, it's terror, it's havoc, it's strange meditations. But, John, I hear you cry. Isn't that a rather odd book to write for a sober man who more than anything wants to stop thinking about alcohol? Well, yes, but I had to go back to find out why the one thing I know will kill me still calls out across the night. It's the story of what alcohol did for me and what alcohol did to me. If that's of interest to you or someone you know, Thirst, 12 Drinks That Change My Life is available to pre order now online and from all good bookshops.

What if I told you that the crime of the century is happening right now?

From Coast to Coast, people are fleeing flames, wind, and water.

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Hi Snap listeners. We are bringing you a special bonus episode today from Oxygine's hit series, Killer Couples. You can also watch full episodes, live or on demand on the free Oxygine app or on Peacock. Talk by clicking the link in our description. Enjoy. I remembered being at home. It seemed like a typical night, nothing out of the ordinary. I fell asleep. Shortly after that, I heard screaming. I saw my dad standing there covered in blood. I called 911.

911, what's your emergency?

Someone found my dad while we were sleeping, our son Somebody what? Someone found my dad. Stab? Yeah. Okay, hold on to the paramedics.

Don't hang up. We've got several staff victims in the house and several hysterical family members.

It was a whole family massacred. It was just got wrenching.

I was in disbelief.

These crimes are contained in this home. The attack was directed on this family. Why this family? I have my belief that this was done with great anger, great hatred, unconscionable. These are just two evil people who carried out something to why they wanted to be together.

He loved her. What do you do for love? Some people do anything they can.

I wish them the same pain my family felt in their last moments.

July 21st, 2000, 3: 30 AM. Dispatchers in Los Angeles County field a terrifying call from the home of the Flores family. Hi, Ellen. What's your emergency? Hello.

Someone was in my house, and there's my dad on the floor, he's bleeding. Monica Díaz made the first 911 call. She said she heard somebody breaking in and screaming, and she became scared and sequestered herself in the bathroom. She was so scared she couldn't move.

Moment Once later, dispatch receives a second 911 call from 18-year-old Esperanza Flores.

Okay, what's the problem over at your house? I don't know.

I heard so screaming, and my dad woke up and he was bleeding a lot.

He's bleeding from where?

He was from his neck.

I don't know.

I just saw blood all over him.

All available law enforcement officers are immediately routed to the scene. When deputies arrive, they're met by Esperanza, 16-year-old Monica and their sister, 18-year-old Laura, outside the residence.

One to be one, come two. Can I have two additional units, code three? One or two make an entry into the residence. That's procedure. They would want to do what's called a protective sweep, check and see if there's anybody else inside the house, even potentially a suspect. Deputy makes a right-hand turn into a bedroom because the information was that there was a victim in that bedroom. He did a quick check, and that victim was Sylvia Jr. He was a 14-year-old young lady. The amount of injuries inflicted was so horrific. She suffered a terrible death. The deputy continued in a westward fashion and entered a room, and that's where two boys were at. Richard Flores Jr. And then Matthew. They were young, 17 and 10 years old. Richard Jr. Was lying on the floor. Matthew, his body was lying, resting against his brother. He had suffered horrible lacerations. The deputy was shaken, visibly shaken. They did a sweep and found yet another victim, that ended up being the father of Richard senior.

The children's mother, Sylvia Flores, is lying on the bed, bleeding, but she's still breathing.

The mother, the matriarch of the family, is in critical condition. Her injuries were quite severe. Puncture wounds to her upper torso area. It caused her a collapse lung. There were slashes, cut off the windpipe. Sylvia was treated and then transported to a local hospital.

After clearing the rest of the house, officers exit and secure the scene.

We had surviving members of the family, and that would be the eldest daughter of this Flores family, and her name was Esperanza, and adopted daughters, Laura and Monica.

We were standing in the front yard. There was just ambulance, police cars, the lights flashing. There was just so much that I was I was trying to process. It was just overwhelming.

It was hard. It was hard to go through that, and it was hard to have images of family when they passed away.

I've already been on the job about 26 years at that time. Worked things to where I was exposed to a whole lot of death. Yet here, effectively, an entire family was wiped out.

That was starting Pillars of their Pico Rivera community, Sylvia and Richard Flores, were known for the large and close-knit family they had raised.

I grew up being raised not only by my parents, but my neighbors as well. My parents were very involved in the community. Our house was always a central hub for everything. Me, my two brothers, and my sister were really close.

In 1987, the Flores family grew when Sylvia and Richard became the legal guardians of their nieces, Monica Diaz and Laura Redta.

Our mom struggled with drugs, to be honest with you. I was five when she passed away. Monica was four. Cops took me and Monica away and gave us to my aunt Sylvia.

It did require an adjustment going from a family of six to a family of eight. If you were there, you were part of the family. You were going to get taken care of. You were going to get treated like one of us.

Richard made me feel welcome in the home when we finally moved in and made me feel like one of his kids.

There was never a dull moment in the There was always someone laughing, making fun of someone. There was just always the love.

Esby, Richie, Sylvia, and Matt played sports. My dad enjoyed watching everybody play a sport, and I loved playing, and I loved watching him in the front of the stands cheering us on.

Playing basketball, I was decent, so I continued to play. And basketball was a pathway to go to college.

By July 2000, Sylvia and Richard's oldest daughter had finished her first year of college, and the family of eight looked forward to spending the summer together.

I felt like we had the perfect family, the perfect everything.

But in the early morning hours of July 21st, 2000, the Flores family has been attacked in their home, and law enforcement have descended upon the chaotic scene.

The scene is well-established as a crime scene. There's the yellow tape, there's police cars everywhere. There are neighbors that are up at this time standing outside of the yellow tape. The number one thing is we are there about getting the truth. First, I've talked with the surviving sisters, Esby, Laura, and Monica.

With the sister's help, investigators begin to build a timeline of the events that led up to the horrific attack.

The night before it happened, it was like normal dynamics at the house. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I would say probably 10. I think I was the last one to go to sleep.

Around 3: 30 in the morning. Monica said she got up to use the bathroom. And then while she's there, she hears all this noise, footsteps. And then she becomes scared. So she just stays in the bathroom.

Esperanza and Laura, they generally slept in the same room in bunk beds.

Esperanza, here's a thud against the wall.

I thought it was an earthquake, so I jumped out of bed. But then And I realized someone hit the wall, the wall connecting my parents' room and my room. And I ran outside into the hall. And when I did, I saw my dad just holding his neck. And There was just blood everywhere. And then I just remember being like, Dad, what happened? Dad, what happened? And that's when he got out the words, I've been stabbed. When I saw him fall, I guess I started yelling.

That's when Monica exited her hiding place in the bathroom and ran to Sylvia and Richard's bedroom.

She found her mother lying on the bed. She goes to assist her mother.

I saw Monica over my mom, and she was applying pressure. She was trying to help her. So I was like, Monica, stay with my mom. Stay with my mom. So I went to go look for the phone to call 911. And the dispatcher just kept asking me all these questions, and I was like, I can't do this. And I was like, he's bleeding. He was stabbed so bad, he could see parts of his insides coming out. And when I knelt beside him, there was just so much blood. Literally, my knees were soaked in his blood. And I covered him with the towel, trying to stop some type of bleeding, but I knew he was gone.

I say my brother's room door closed, and I thought they were okay. I thought they were just scared from all the commotion that was going on. I go into my little sister's room and I've seen something brown on her bed. Didn't know what it was until I got closer. When I realized it was blood, dry blood, I started screaming out her name. She didn't respond to me.

Laura was in the hallway screaming. I was like, Laura, get out of here. Go, go outside. Go wait outside for me.

I panicked and I ran outside of the house. That's when Esby and Monica followed me.

The police were finally there, and they were like, Is anyone here? I was like, I don't think so.

The girls insist that their family doesn't have any enemies. Instead, they believe the attack is the work of a random killer.

Everyone thought there was some type of serial killer on the loose hurting people. I think that was the last thought that my family had when were killed.

If somebody would attack and kill this family, who else would they kill? Who else would they target?

Coming up, evidence inside the home points investigators toward a terrifying prospect.

The presence of dark tape made me go, Okay, this is not a random event. This is a planned event.

And a forbidden romance sparked suspicion.

He gave her all this attention that she craved. She was head over heels.

.

No, I'm not.

I'm not even.

On July 21st, 2000, the Flores family is attacked in their Pico Rivera home, leaving four dead and Sylvia Flores senior clinging to life. Daughters Esperanza, Monica, and Laura were spared in the attack.

These crimes are contained in this home. The attack was directed on this family. Why this family?

While authorities scour the neighborhood for witnesses and suspects alike, investigators begin processing the floor as home for evidence.

By now, it's past day break. Sun is up. This is a large crime scene. Each bedroom was its own crime scene. You just start working your way in. The front door opens up into a hallway. From this hallway, I'm able to see little Sylvia lying on the floor. She looks as though she slid off the bed or was pulled from the bed. She had terrible wounds to her body, her torso. She had a piece of duct tape that was affixed to her mouth. The presence of duct tape made me go, Okay, this is not a random event. This is a planned event. I continued down the hallway to take a look into that room which contained the two boys. Again, I see the presence of duct tape affixed to the bed. Richard's on the floor. It immediately jumped out. This young man didn't even know what hit him. His throat was slashed, brutally. It's my I believe that Matthew more than likely was awakened during the course of this event. He obviously fought. His body was lying, resting against his brother. I'm standing over this young man to take a look at the wounds, the type of wounds, where they're located, all these things.

And I remember catching myself because I didn't want my tears to fall in and co-mingle DNA on this young man. It made me angry and sad because of how violently he was brutalized. The stabbing is when you see multiple injuries to a body. It can support and give the belief that it was done with great rage. There was passion involved in this.

Investigators continue down the hallway to the master bedroom.

I believe Sylvia is attacked first because her movement and wrestling in the bed By all accounts, causes Richard to get up. Richard senior had a number of puncture wounds, slashing wounds, defensive wounds to his body. It shows that he fought hard with his assailant. You got to be in pretty good shape. I've handled over 300 homicides in my career, but there are those that are significant to me because the gravity of it, the amount of death in one scene. As I'm walking down the hallway, there's a military-style flashlight, and it had a red lens on it. The red lens on there, it cuts down light signature. It It was done in a military tactical setting to where we don't want to have a blurring light.

So the attacker was able to see where he was going.

Based on what we were seeing, we had to think, this was done tactically. This is methodical.

Investigators continue to the bathroom.

This is the bathroom that Monica said that she had hidden in or locked herself in. Seated on top of the vanity, I saw a double-edged knife. I saw another. It looked like a butterfly knife. This looks like evidence items to me. That made me go, Hold a second. Take photos. Let's go back there and interview them In the kitchen, investigators discover the rear door is unlocked. That family, routinely, all doors have been locked, yet that rear door was unlocked. A couple of steps down, a landing. There's the a backpack. Within that backpack, what was prominent was this particular towel, a multi-colored towel. I see pieces of duct tape stuck to the air conditioning unit that's outside there. There's scissors on there. Then more compelling is lying on the ground, the hatchet, and a double-edged knife. They have a particular type of handle wrap, black type of tape. And the reason I say that? Because one of those knives I said in the bathroom had very similar wrapping, something handmade. We see these items in the bathroom, the tape connected to the tape outside. Either one well thought out individual is coming to wipe out this entire family, or there are multiple individuals involved in this.

As investigators, you want to leave yourself open-minded about things, but no, this can't be a silver color. The girl said, Go get the people responsible for this, which we hear a lot, right? Go get them. A way of diverting us away from them. At this point in time, I'm looking at the survivors. Something in the back of my head is going, Maybe one of these young ladies is involved.

The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea, and sex. But lately, life on the Coast has taken a strange turn. The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption. His wife claims he's been bewitched. By a beautiful clairvoyant. Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting. I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.

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How hard is it to kill a planet? Maybe all it takes is a little drilling, some mining, and a whole lot of carbon pumped into the atmosphere. When you see what's left, it starts to look like a crime scene.

Are we really safe?

Is our water safe?

You destroyed our town. And crimes like that, they don't just happen.

We call things accidents.

There no accident.

This was 100% preventable.

They're the result of choices by people, ruthless oil tycoons, corrupt politicians, even organized crime. These are the stories we need to be telling about our changing planet. Stories of scams, murders, and cover-ups that are about us and the things we're doing to either protect the Earth or destroy it. Follow Lawless Planet on the Wondry app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes of Lawless Planet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Authorities in Pico Rivera, California, are investigating the tragic murders of 42-year-old Richard Flores and his children, Richard Jr, Matthew, and Sylvia Jr. Investigators bring the surviving girls, Esperanza Flores, Monica Diaz, and Laura Redta, in for questioning.

Saturday afternoon, the girls were interviewed individually. What I'm looking for are the accounts consistent.

It was just so surreal sitting there and just trying to answer these questions and making me feel like I was part of it or had some type of knowledge on what happened.

I presented these photos and asked, First, SP, do these look like items from the house that you kept around? Are these items that you'd seen before? Esperanza provided that she did not. Laura quickly said, No, I've never seen any of that stuff. What are those knives doing there? Quite frankly, early on, there was something about Laura that gave me a little bit of pause. She's tough.

I think multiple people had said, Look at Laura. She might be the person for this. And it was only because I was always in trouble. I was always doing my thing in my own little world, but I could never hurt a human being. I was always very protective over my brothers and sisters.

I don't know, just something in the old gut went, Explore this a little bit more. But that quickly subsided when I now talk with Monica. I said, Take me through this again. She explained what she did again. She was in the bathroom. Then I put the picture out there and I said, Do you know anything about these items here? She looked at it and went, Oh, I think Michael gave me that knife.

Monica reveals she has been dating Michael Nouranjo for the past year. Investigators begin to wonder if he could be involved in this crime. As they continue interviewing the three sisters, other officers dig into Michael's background and learn that he grew up in Pico Rivera, not far from the Flores family.

He had two of her brothers, long since out of the house, and he just resided at the home with his mother, father, and himself. I remember him being very just slim, clean-cut kid, very innocent.

He was a good student. He was quiet.

At 15, Michael joined the Junior ROTC, where he rose to sergeant and dreamed of becoming a Marine.

Once he got exposed to the ROTC, I started noticing the changes in his clothes, aiming more towards the, I guess, military style.

Michael started wearing black cargo pants and boots and had a bomber jacket as well.

Investigators learned that Monica joined the ROTC program a year later.

That's where Monica and Michael met, and it's where their relationship started. They were only in ROTC together one year, but it was significant enough to where their relationship progressed and became more involved.

He joined us everywhere. He had dinner with us. He went with us on family outings. He seemed like a normal couple.

Monica's sisters tell investigators that while their family was passionate about sports, Monica always cared more about academics.

She was straight A student, always in her books, always trying to figure out how to do things, chemistry, AP honor classes.

Monica wasn't the athlete that her sisters were.

There were some statements made that she was treated differently because she wasn't as athletically gifted. She was looked down on.

So when she met someone like Michael, who was devoted to her and gave her all this attention that she craved, she was head over heels.

Michael and Monica, once they were together, they became more withdrawn. It was one of those things where they were together often, a lot, constant, enough to where neighbors would He mentioned that it was hot and heavy. The parents didn't want him to spend as much time as he appeared to be starting to spend at the home.

Monica never had a problem with her grades. I think her grades started slipping when she did meet Michael. That's when Sylvia had a feeling something was up when it came to Michael. I just didn't like him, period.

He had problems with the mother. He even called her as she's a bitch. I was starting to think, this young man is involved in this. And if she's involved, Monica is involved in it.

With Esperanza, Laura and Monica waiting in separate interview rooms in investigators decide they need to speak with Michael Nouranjo immediately.

We had him come there. We asked him if he would consent to an interview. Absolutely. Sat down and we start talking with him. He sat effectively in attention to where I was going. You can relax, young man. It's okay. We just want to talk to you about what happened. And it was, Sir, yes or no, sir.

Michael admits Monica's parents didn't approve of their relationship.

He was talking about the problems he was having with the parents, that the mother didn't like him. They were always watching them. And I just remember that during the course of this interview, I saw something. What happened to your arm? He goes, What? He goes, What happened? Is that a fresh cut? He peels it back and there's a laceration. What happened there? He goes, Well, what happened there? He goes, Some of the guys at school were goof around. They threw a bottle, a glass bottle, and broke, and I got cut. My partner immediately goes, Michael, pose again. That's not an injury received from somebody throwing a bottle at you. It got a little flustered. My hope, obviously, was, Well, maybe I can get some admission.

Michael continues to deny any involvement in the Flores murders, so investigators decide to collect fingerprints from him and Monica. While they wait for forensic results, Michael and the three sisters are free to leave.

On Monday, we start receiving the word that preliminary testing and processing of items that had been collected started producing results. The flashlight that I talked about, fingerprints from the Batteries inside of it. Michael.

A forensic examination of the duct tape ultimately confirms investigators's worst suspicions.

We have a roll of it outside. We have scissors there. We have precut pieces that have been affixed for ready use. You just peel it off ready to go. They all came from one single strand, consistent with the source item, the duct tape, and it also showed fingerprints. This piece was the one that was on Sylvia Jr. This piece comes from what was collected from the boys bedroom. We had latent prints of two individuals, Michael and Monica.

Three days into their investigation, authorities in Pico Rivera, California, have connected 17-year-old Michael Naranjo and his girlfriend, 16-year-old Monica Diaz, to the brutal murders of Monica's family.

The forensic examination of evidence items revealed prints determined to be those of Monica and of Michael. The 27th third of July was when the arrest warrants and the subsequent search warrants were served at two different locations. Monica had been staying at her uncle's residence along with Laura and Esby.

A detective came to the door, rang the doorbell, they opened the door. As they're talking, there's cops on the side of the house walking towards the back to where Monica was. Then I'm seeing her walking towards the car is when I realized that they were arresting her.

I was in disbelief. I couldn't believe a family member could do something like that.

I think we were all confused. Everybody couldn't believe that our own family took our family from us.

With Monica in tow, investigators raced to Michael's house before he has time to learn of her arrest.

I go to Michael's house. I'm at the door, and it's answered by his mother. And I said, Hi, we need to talk with Michael. And I took Michael outside. I said, Michael, you're under arrest for the murders of the Flores family. He just looked at me and went... Just a nod. That was it. Handcuffed, I put in a car for transportation to the station. We had set up a vehicle which was being recorded. And put them in the seat together. Not an uncommon tacket that we use. And there was no whaling of, No, we didn't do this. What are they doing? Nothing you would expect from somebody that was innocent. This is our last thing to get. No, Norman.

Love you, baby.

At the station, the suspects are placed in separate interview rooms, investigators sit down with Michael first.

So you want an attorney? Everybody said I should get one, so yes. Okay, then I can't talk to you. Okay.

Down the hall, investigators confront Monica.

You know who did this?

No, I don't.

You have no idea? I don't. How about Michael? He haven't said anything to me. You think he did it?

I don't think so.

Do you love Michael?

So did.

Would you lie for him?

What I liked him was not a story. I'm telling you that Michael killed your family. And you know what I'm going to tell you? That you know he did. Tell us what happened. Was this supposed to happen?

Nothing was supposed to happen, though.

I think nothing was supposed to happen.

Your dad told people you have changed. He believes that Michael has been changed.

My dad has been telling me that for a while.

And that scared you? Yes. What do you think happened? Why this happened? I had a bus going home. She wanted to try and mitigate her involvement in this. I just remember me going, No, it just doesn't add up. They're ultimately booked into the LA County system. They were both effectively juveniles at the time. He was 17, she was So therefore, they go to a juvenile detention facility. We just have a search warrant.

With Michael and Monica in custody, investigators execute a search warrant on Michael's home in order to gather incriminating evidence.

Quite a number of things that were consistent with some of the evidence items that had been collected from the crime scene location. Things like a particular type of courting that we used to wrap and make a particular type of handle similar to the one that we had collected from the crime scene. There were books on torture. There were books on killing. There were books on how to kill, books on handy-hand combat. There was a military manual. It was all focused on someone trying to get schooled in the art of being a trained killer. He was an avid collector of knives. He a large array of various types of knives that were in there. There was a notebook which had a listing of things, basically a checkoff list, showing the premeditation of this event. As I'm walking down the hallway, There's the hallway cabinet open. In that cabinet are these set of towels.

There was a hand towel that was found inside of a backpack that matched a similar brand of hand towel that was at Michael's house.

It's the same towel. It's the same brand. Everything.

Now, with a mountain of evidence against Michael, investigators wonder how big a role Monica played in the crime. They return to the Flores home in search of revelatory evidence.

That leads to the discovery of a box. It was full of handwritten correspondence. Monica to Michael, Michael to Monica. I started reading and I saw the beginning of this relationship. You could read as it developed. Writings about their future together. They were going to be married together. And then became more, I guess you could use sinister. Monica talked about, I want to see blood. She's talking about killing, mass murders, and says, I want to see the blood on their faces. I want to be a mass murderer. The best job is to kill people professionally. Imagine how many victims I'd have if I lived 800 years. Monica Díaz assisted Michael Nouranjo in the planning and the completion of this event, not only involved, but she, in my view, puts it in motion.

Based on their findings, investigators piece together a theory for what they believe occurred in the early morning hours of July 21st, 2000.

The evidence shows that Monica took a large role in helping to make this happen. She cut up strips of the duct tape to give to Michael so he'd have it ready to go when he put him over the victim's mouth.

She then unlocked the rear door and allowed him into the home.

She then went into the bathroom, obviously, to make it seem as if she was just a scared young woman.

This was done with great anger, great hatred. It's unconscionable. These are just two evil people who carried out something because they wanted to be together. They're ultimately booked into the LA County system.

Three days after the murders, investigators receive optimistic news about Sylvia Flores.

It's a miracle that she survived.

I remember my mom, really just my mom. I know there was other people there, but I don't remember them. I kept telling my mom, My head hurts, my hair hurts. Something's going on, but I had no clue. What happened? What happened? They still didn't tell me that Richard and the kids had passed. There's no way. And all I remember telling my mom, Monica did this.

Despite catastrophic injuries in the attempt to end her life, Sylvia Flores has pulled through after the attack that claimed the lives of her husband and three children.

I remember hearing Espi scream. I remember being put in the ambulance. I know I died. I know I was no longer breathing. My heart wasn't beating. I know I passed. And I saw Richard, Matt, and Nana. I'm Richie Rich. It was a beautiful light, like they say. Perfect weather, perfect everything. And them telling me, No, you can't come with us. Go back with them. Go back with the girls. And they pointed it. I looked back and there was Esby and Laura. And I looked back to look at them. They were not there anymore.

Investigators visit Sylvia in the hospital where she shares her memory stories of the attack on her family.

I woke up. I knew I was stabbed. I was having problems breathing, and I saw the blood on me. The bed was moving. I didn't know what was going on. And I saw somebody on top of Richard. Somebody was hurting him, and somehow he pushed that person off. I remember the person falling on the dresser that was in front of my bed, and he took off. Richard got up. All I remember is telling him, I love you. He said something to me for the life of me. I have no idea. Monica, all of a sudden, was there, and I said, Go get a towel. So she went to the bathroom, got a towel, and I said, Put pressure. Then I felt her hands reaching for my throat and applying a lot of pressure. I grabbed her arm. Her face was like, She still has strength to hold her back? To this day, I know she wanted to kill me, too. She was choking me. She was trying to finish me off, but I didn't let her. No, not today. It's hard to say your child wanted to kill you. How can you hurt somebody like that?

Somebody you love? I don't even know how to describe it. Honestly, I have no idea when I found out that Richard and the kids were killed. I was probably told several times, but I was in denial. I couldn't handle that information.

With Sylvia's testimony in tow, one week after the murders, the Los Los Angeles district Attorney, announces that Monica Diaz and Michael Naranjo will be charged as adults.

They were charged with four counts of first-degree murder for each of the victims, and they were charged with the account of attempted murder for the attack on Sylvia.

In September 2003, jury selection for Michael's trial gets underway. But on September 30th, right before the trial is set begin, Michael's lawyers contact the district attorney.

The night before, he surprised everybody by pleading guilty to everything. And in his plea, he basically admitted to doing it all By himself, he talked about always having these thoughts of killing. He just needed the right opportunity, and this was the opportunity he had.

On October 22nd, Michael is sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison.

When he was being told he's going to spend the rest of his life in jail, he just had no emotion. He was just very calloused.

Monica Diaz's trial begins in late January, 2004. When she takes the stand, she continues to assert her innocence.

She continued to defend herself by saying that she took no part in the murders.

Michael also takes the stand in Monica's defense.

He was, once again, the dutiful soldier who's, I'll take this all. I did this all. It's all me. She didn't do anything.

On the stand, he was asked, Why did he do it? And he said, I just wanted to kill someone. I was like, I liked them. I had nothing against them. I just wanted to kill someone.

Why would he do that? Just to save her? You both wanted to be killers. Why not say, We did it. Now, she told him what to say.

He did this ultimately to try to save her from a lifetime of incarceration, but the jury never bought it. She was convicted on all counts, sentenced to consecutive life terms.

I think something happened in her mind. I know I raised a great woman. I don't know that murder her. Monica. Who that is, I have no idea.

I went to ask her multiple times, Why did you do what you did? Maybe she was dead inside. I don't know.

They might have played off of each other and fed off of each other's characters, but it was all her. She is the mastermind of the murders.

He loved her. What do you do for love? Some people do anything they can. He made her feel that good, and she manipulated him into doing what she wanted.

I do not think justice was done. In all honesty, I wish them the same pain that my family felt in their last moments.

I I love talking about Richard. I love talking about my kids, but no one brings them up. No one wants to say they were murdered.

Retelling the story is hard, but remembering them is even harder because I can't get that time back. It's harder because the memories of them are fading. It's hard to share the good things that we did. It's hard to go back and replay all those beautiful memories. In 2005, Monica Diaz's life sentence was overturned by a three-member appellate court panel. In 2009, she was resentenced to four consecutive sentences of 25 years to life.

Her parole eligibility was denied in 2022.

Michael Nouranjo will be eligible for parole in 2027. On Boxing Day, 2018, 20-year-old Joy Morgan was last seen at her church, Israel United in Christ, or IUIC.

I just went on my Snapchat and I just see her face plastered everywhere.

This is the missing sister, the true story of a woman betrayed by those she trusted most. Iuic is my family and the best family that I've ever had. But IUIC isn't like most churches.

This is a devilish cult. You know when you get that feeling, where you're just, I don't want to be here. I want to get out. It's like that feeling of, I want to go hang out.

I'm Charlie Brinko's Cuff, and after years of investigating Joy's case, I need to know what really happened to Joy. Binge all episodes of The Missing Sister, exclusively and ad free right now on WNDYRY Plus. Start your free trial of WNDYRY Plus on Spotify, Apple podcast, or in the WNDYRY app.