Features

Ventura County woman sentenced to death for murdering sons

The Associated Press
Saturday April 06, 2002

VENTURA — A Superior Court judge on Friday sentenced a Santa Rosa Valley woman to death for killing three of her four sons. 

A jury convicted Socorro Caro, 44, in November of three counts of first-degree murder and found true the special circumstances of multiple murder and intentional discharging of a gun to inflict death. The jurors subsequently recommended the death penalty. 

During the trial, defense attorneys contended that Caro’s 53-year-old husband, Dr. Xavier Caro, killed the children, then shot and framed her.  

Prosecutors said Mrs. Caro became angry after a fight with her husband and on Nov. 22, 1999, methodically shot sons Joey, 11, Michael, 8, and Christopher, 5, with a .38-caliber handgun, then wounded herself in the head. The physician immediately filed for divorce after the killings.