Smiling Through a Murder Charge: The Troubling Case of Three Del Rio Suspects

When police arrested three suspects in the stabbing death of Caroline“Caro”Peña, a 32-year-old mother of five in Del Rio, Texas, the mugshots told an unsettling story—one that had little to do with the gravity of the crime itself.

On Thursday, 21-year-old Kitty Mia Diaz and her 19-year-old sister Amaya Cookie, alongside their friend 21-year-old Kyandra Renee Faz, were booked into jail for murder. The victim was rushed to a local hospital with severe stab wounds before being transferred to a trauma center in San Antonio, where she ultimately died from her injuries. But what’s captured the public’s attention isn’t just the alleged crime—it’s the apparent demeanor of the accused. Video footage from their arrests surfaced online showing the sisters smiling during the arrest process, and their mugshots only reinforced that jarring disconnect between the seriousness of the charges and their seemingly carefree expressions.

The investigation unfolded quickly. Officers initially responded to a hospital call about a stabbed woman, then were redirected to the crime scene where they gathered surveillance video and interviewed witnesses. Those efforts led them directly to the three suspects. Police have booked them all on murder charges, though they haven’t released a motive for the alleged crime.

The case highlights something deeply unsettling about how we process tragedy. A woman lost her life in what police describe as a brazen daytime attack on a busy Texas street. Her five children are now without their mother. Yet what’s dominating the conversation isn’t the loss itself, but rather the facial expressions of the accused—a reminder that sometimes the most disturbing part of a crime isn’t what happened, but the apparent indifference surrounding it.