Phoenix Parents Charged with Murder After Father Burned Home Which Contained 13-Year-Old Daughter’s Remains Aaron Keller
Maribel Loera and Rafael Loera. Image via the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
Two parents are facing murder and other charges after police in Phoenix say the couple killed their adopted 13-year-old daughter. The girl was last seen alive in 2016. Authorities say they discovered her remains after her father torched the family’s house last year, though it appears the girl had been dead for several years before the fire.
Maribel Loera, 51, and
Rafael Loera, 57, were charged Friday with first-degree murder, child abuse, concealment of a body, and arson of an occupied structure, police said in a Facebook post. Both defendants had been in custody on child abuse charges since January 28, 2020, police said, but murder charges were only recently filed late this week in a case which has placed the couple in increasing legal jeopardy.