Two siblings accused of murdering a 3-year-old girl and critically injuring her 10-year-old sister at a Mesquite casino trailer park were to face extradition to Nevada today.
At a hearing scheduled for this afternoon after Deseret News press deadlines, law enforcement officials were to attempt to have the pair returned to Nevada where questions are already being raised about the possibility of the death penalty.
Beau Santino Maestas, 19, and his sister Monique, 16, are accused of fatally stabbing Kristyanna Cowan and severely wounding Brittney Bergeron. Both were charged as adults by the Clark County, Nev., District Attorney's Office late Thursday.
Each faces a charge of murder, attempted murder, burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon and conspiracy to commit robbery, all felonies. Additionally, both were charged with conspiracy to commit burglary, a gross misdemeanor.
A third person, Sabrina Bantam, 18, was released Thursday. Investigators said she was not involved in the stabbings, and no charges will be filed against her.
A spokesman at University Hospital in Las Vegas confirmed today that Bergeron had her spinal cord severed after being repeatedly stabbed in the back and will be permanently paralyzed from the waist down.
She has dozens of stab wounds, including several defensive stab wounds on her hands and arms from trying to protect her sister, according to the hospital spokesman.
Bergeron was upgraded to serious condition today but will likely undergo many more surgeries before she can leave the hospital, the spokesman said.
Thursday afternoon at the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, the mother of the two girls spoke publicly for the first time.
"The attack on my little girls is nothing short of violent, premeditated murder and attempted murder," an emotional Tamara Bergeron said. "I encourage prosecutors to go for the death penalty.
"Unless you are a parent who has lost a child, you have no idea what I'm feeling. From depression to anger, I have been through every emotion there is in the past day. I love my children with all my heart, and what has happened will be a cross I will always bear."
Bergeron, 34, was so shaken that she could not finish a statement she had prepared and had to have a counselor finish reading it.
Police said Beau Maestas and his sister stabbed the young girls about 2 a.m. Wednesday in their trailer at the CasaBlanca casino-resort recreational vehicle park in Mesquite. Mesquite Deputy Police Chief Joe Szalay said that Maestas told investigators he stabbed the girls after they started screaming. He told detectives he and his sister were stabbing wildly at both girls, and he didn't remember which girl he stabbed, Szalay said.
The siblings and Bantam were pulled over a few hours later by the Utah Highway Patrol near Nephi. They surrendered without incident.
The young girls were alone at the time of the attack. Police said their parents were in the casino.
Maestas claimed the attack was prompted by a bad drug deal, according to Szalay. He told investigators that he and his sister went to the RV park looking for Bergeron's boyfriend to "even the score," Szalay said.
However, Bergeron said Thursday that they did not owe Maestas any money and that the attack was simply an attempt to rob them.
Maestas' last known Utah address was an apartment in Murray. He attended Cyprus High School during the 2000-01 school year but transferred out of the Granite District in December 2000 and later enrolled at a high school in Mesquite.
Contributing: Associated Press
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