Murder LA 000049

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25TH, 2011 -- 9AM

George Mora
via Crime Scene

Deputies responding to a domestic disturbance call in the city of Walnut found 43-year-old Socorro Mora on the front lawn of the residence with 22 stab wounds. There was a trail of blood leading from a bench on the front porch inside the house, where they discovered her husband, George Mora, dead. He'd been stabbed 33 times. The couple had 4 children, who were not home at the time.

Although a surviving spouse must always be regarded as a suspect, in this case George had obtained a restraining order against his wife because of an unspecified incident of domestic violence on September 13th, 2011. This was shortly after their 18th wedding anniversary.

One of the couple's sons testified that his mother tried to get him to leave school with her sometime during the restraining order. On September 24th, Mrs. Mora went to the Walnut house where George resided with their children and stabbed Snowflake, the family dog, to death in the backyard. She was carrying the dog's tag in her pocket when she paid her last, fatal visit to George a month later.

Two weeks ago, on May 12th, 2014, she was found guilty of second degree murder and animal cruelty, among other charges. Her own wounds in 2011 were self-inflicted. Sentencing is set for June.

Back in 2011, it was reported that when family arrived at the home the weekend following the slaying they found it had been burglarized. It was not reported what exactly was stolen, but Mrs. Mora's sister, Jacquie, said the kids were "left with nothing." No word on whether the culprit was found.