Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Snapped: Killer Couples‘ upcoming episode, “Monica Diaz and Michael Naranjo,” will air on Oxygen on Sunday, May 5, 2024, at 6 p.m. ET. Outlining the murder case, the synopsis of the episode reads, “Monica Diaz falls in love with her ROTC classmate but her parents do not approve of Michael Naranjo being her boyfriend. The couple decides to take a stand together by murdering the whole family. See who lives and who doesn’t in California.”
Monica Diaz was 16 years old at the time of committing the crime, and the family she killed was her adoptive family. San Gabriel Valley Tribune reported that the murders happened on July 21, 2000, when Michael Naranjo was Diaz’s boyfriend in high school.
Following the duo’s arrest, the court found Naranjo and Diaz guilty of the first-degree murders of four of her family members. The victims of the homicide were Diaz’s uncle, Richard Flores, 42, and her three cousins — Matthew, 10, Sylvia, 13, and Richard, 17. The court sentenced Monica Diaz to 100 years to life in prison while Michael Naranjo pleaded guilty. The court also sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Why did Monica Diaz kill her family?
Monica Diaz said in her trial that she believed her aunt and uncle were going through problems in their marriage. She alleged that Naranjo suggested they fake a robbery to bring the family closer to each other, to which she eventually agreed after re-consideration. However, Diaz later claimed she had nothing to do with the killings and had only planned a break-in. She also admitted to cutting duct tape to tie up her family.
According to court documents, in a letter that Monica Diaz had written to Naranjo on March 9, 1999, she expressed her admiration for murderers. She also told him that the ideal job is to kill people professionally and that she preferred books about serial killers because they let her learn from the mistakes of others.
Even though Monica Diaz initially denied her involvement in the murder, forensic reports suggested the presence of her fingerprints and palm prints on the knives found in the bathroom. Earlier, she alleged to have been inside the bathroom during the murder and claimed to have not seen the knives. Additionally, one of the knives and a flashlight had Michael Naranjo’s fingerprints on it.
Following the murder, Diaz stayed with a relative, and Naranjo often visited her. The couple was arrested a few days later, on July 26, 2000, following which their trial began. Per the court documents, the court sentenced Monica Diaz to four consecutive terms of 25 years to life, which amounts to 100 years in prison. Meanwhile, Michael Naranjo pleaded guilty in October 2003 and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison.
Snapped: Killer Couples’ upcoming episode on Monica Diaz and Michael Naranjo’s conviction will air on Oxygen on Sunday, May 3, 2024, at 6 p.m. ET.
