California Woman Dies Trying To Protect Her Elderly Mother From Attacker
Karina Sara Moreno Valdivia has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection to the March 9 attack that left Karen McCoy dead.
A California woman was allegedly murdered while trying to defend her mother during a vicious attack earlier this week.
Police arrested 32-year-old Karina Sara Moreno Valdivia on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with the skirmish that left Karen McCoy dead.
The attack unfolded around 1 p.m. in the small southern California town of Anza, law enforcement said. Officers were initially dispatched to the location after reports of an assault with a deadly weapon.
The woman’s mother, Suzanne Martinez, who survived the attack, was rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said, the Press-Enterprise reported.
It’s unclear what triggered the attack or if a murder weapon was recovered; law enforcement have not yet disclosed a motive, nor have they released the woman’s cause of death.
However, local media reported that Valdivia was an acquaintance of McCoy, 58.
The family said that McCoy was killed trying to protect her mother.
“My mother Karen McCoy was murdered while saving my grandmother’s life,” Nicholas McCoy wrote on a GoFundMe fundraising page for the family. “Please pray for my grandmother Suzanne as she recovers from her wounds, and my uncle Rick, who both live in Anza and especially my mother’s soul as she is now free to be with our Lord in Heaven.”
Nicholas McCoy since posted that his grandmother sustained broken bones and some nerve damage in the attack but is recovering.
“She is hopeful that she’ll be able to walk soon,” he added. “[It’s] nothing that time, rest, and love can’t heal.”
Oxygen.com was unable to immediately reach the family for comment on Friday.
Valdivia was questioned at the scene and was later booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, the Press-Enterprise also reported. The 32-year-old woman is being held on a $1 million bail but hadn’t been charged as of Friday, KMIR-TV reported.
She appeared in court on Friday, according to online jail records.