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Mountain View, Calif. (BCN) -- Five suspects charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder of a brother and sister in Mountain View in June appeared in Santa Clara County Superior Court Friday afternoon but did not enter pleas to the charges against them.
Maria Teresa Sanchez-Aquino, 27, and her brother Omar Aquino, 24, were found shot to death the morning of June 28 in their Plymouth Street home, Mountain View police Sgt. Ken Leal said.
On Aug. 21, three suspects were arrested in the case, Leal said. Fremont police detectives arrested Nicory Marquis Spann, 18, and Victoria Frances Thompson, 20, was arrested in Morgan Hill on a warrant. Fame Thomas, 15, was also arrested. She is being charged as an adult, Deputy District Attorney James Gibbons-Shapiro said.
A fourth suspect, Michael David Adams, 20, was taken into custody at the Valley Fair Mall in San Jose on Aug 22.
San Jose resident Kim Thien Pham, 19 was arrested Thursday at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport as she tried to flee the state, according to police.
Spann, Thompson, Adams and Fame Thomas were all previously arraigned and today their lawyers set a date of Sept. 29 at 2 p.m. for their entry of plea. Pham was arraigned today and will return to court on Sept. 5 to officially identify her lawyer, Gibbons-Shapiro said.
Two other suspects remain at large: 20-year-old Kenneth Ivory Thomas of Campbell and a 17-year-old girl whose name has not been released. They are considered armed and dangerous because the handgun used in the murders has yet to be located.
Of the seven suspects, only two are not charged with murder, Leal said. Thompson and the 17-year-old girl are both facing charges of conspiracy to commit murder.
The other five are charged with two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Leal said his detectives still don't know which of the suspects fired the shots that killed the siblings. He also would not confirm whether all seven suspects were at the home at the time of the shooting.
Police spokeswoman Liz Wylie said it appears Sanchez-Aquino made a 911 call on June 28 at 3:54 a.m. The call, reporting a break-in, was dropped before it was connected to police.
Officers were still investigating the call when they received reports of shots fired in the 1900 block of Plymouth Street at 4:53 a.m.
Responding officers found Sanchez-Aquino and Aquino dead of gunshot wounds inside the home, Wylie said.
Sanchez's 8-year-old son was found unharmed and asleep in another room of the home. He is now being cared for by relatives.
Leal said police believe one of the motives for entering the home was robbery.
Police are also investigating the possibility that there are drug or gang aspects to the crime. Leal said no drugs or drug paraphernalia were found.
The suspects appear to have been acquaintances of Aquino but police are not releasing details on the relationship, Leal said.
The investigation is ongoing, and a Santa Clara County judge has sealed many of the documents in the case so little information is available to the public, Wylie said. |