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Caroline
YOUNG
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics:
She
learned she had lost a custody battle with the children's father
Number of victims: 2
Date of murders: June 18, 1993
Date of arrest:
Same day
Date of birth: November 23, 1943
Victims profile:
Her two grandchildren, Darin Torres, 6, and
Dai-Zshia Torres, 4
Method of murder: Cutting
their throats
Location: Hayward, Alameda County, California, USA
Status:
Sentenced to death on October 27, 1995. Died in prison on
September 6, 2005
Carolina Young was convicted in 1993 of murdering
her two grandchildren because she learned she had lost a custody
battle with the children's father.
Young was a 51-year-old grandmother who received
custody of her daughter's children after she was deemed to be unfit
and was sent jail for drugs and prostitution.
When the father of the children learned of their
existence after being informed that he owed $12,000 in back child
support, he petitioned the courts for custody of the children
and received it. On the day that he arrived in the Bay Area to
pick up his 6-year-old son, Darin Torres, Young cut the boy's throat,
killing him, then slashed his sister, Dai-Zshia Torres, 4, to death.
On the day that she killed the children she wrote
them a note saying in part, "I am a very angry and vengeful person. An
unhappy spirit now on a rampage to get even with all that hurt me and
mine."
The jury deliberated under three hours before
deciding that Young should receive the death penalty.
On September 6, 2005, Young died of kidney failure
at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California.
Hayward woman guilty of killing grandkids
Sfgate.com
June 7, 1995
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY --
OAKLAND - A Hayward grandmother was convicted Tuesday of two counts of
murder with special circumstances for stabbing her two grandchildren
to death.
Caroline Young, 51,
displayed little emotion when the verdicts were read following a day
and a half of deliberation by an Alameda County Superior Court jury.
Jurors convicted her of
first-degree murder for the death of 6-year-old Darrin
Barrington-Torres and second-degree murder for the death of 4-year-old
Dai-Zshia Torres, both of whom were stabbed to death at Young's
apartment in Hayward on June 18, 1993. The special circumstances
charges mean Young could be sentenced to death.
Prosecutor Ken Burr said
Young, who had custody of the children because their mother was
involved in drugs and prostitution, killed them for "selfish and
mean-spirited" reasons after learning she would be losing custody of
Darrin to his father.
Burr said that before the
bloody incident, Young told a friend, "I will kill the kids and take
them with me to hell."
Young's lawyers admitted
Young killed the children, but said she should only be convicted of
second-degree murder because the killings were not premeditated.
On Wednesday, the second
phase of the trial began with defense attorneys arguing that Young
should be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
