Feb. 01--A mother who stabbed her three children to death in their West Carson home was sentenced to life in prison without parole Monday.
Carol Ann Coronado, 32, was found lying on a bed with self-inflicted stab wounds next to her dead children in May 2014.
The bodies of her daughters Sophia, 2; Yazmine, 16 months; and Xenia, 2 months, were found riddled with stab wounds.
The girls' father had been working on a pickup truck across the street when a woman ran out of the house with a bloody knife screaming "she killed the babies," neighbors told The Times.
John Carrion, a relative, said Coronado's husband was "dazed and confused" when he emerged from the house after seeing his daughters' bodies.
"Right now, he's giving her the benefit of doubt," Carrion said of the husband at the time. "He just said he didn't believe he saw Carol -- he saw a demon inside her. He said he doesn't blame Carol. He blames the ... demon."
Neighbors watched as deputies escorted Coronado from the house, handcuffed and wrapped in a blanket.
"She had a zoned-out look and was just looking down," Ashley Madrid, 27, said in 2014. "She had dry blood smeared on her face and legs."
The girls, Carrion said, were energetic and loved the Disney movie "Frozen." There were plans for a baptism that fall.
"They were the most beautiful babies you had ever seen," he said.
Staff writer Ruben Vives contributed to this report.
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