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Death Sentence Upheld for Father Convicted of Killing and Burying Children in Angeles National Forest
Los Angeles, CA – June 1 — The California Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death sentence of a Pacoima man convicted of murdering his two young children and burying them in makeshift graves in the Angeles National Forest. Authorities said Marco Esquivel Barrera, now 63, was sentenced to death in December 2001 for the killings of his 2-year-old daughter, Guadalupe “Lupita” Barrera, and his 5-year-old son, Ernesto Barrera. According to court records, Lupita was killed in 1997 and Ernesto in 1998. Prosecutors alleged that both children died from severe physical abuse before their bodies were concealed in the forest. In its ruling, the California Supreme Court affirmed Barrera’s murder convictions and death sentence, rejecting challenges to the judgment that had been imposed more than two decades ago. The case remains one of the most disturbing child-homicide prosecutions in California history due to the ages of the victims and the manner in which their bodies were hidden.