Friday, January 24, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

STABBINGS OF CHILDREN: Fake drug deal blamed

Police: Attack was to 'even the score' in meth deception

Tammy Bergeron pauses for breath Thursday while reading a statement about the knife attack that killed her 3-year-old daughter and left her 10-year-old daughter paralyzed. Photo by K.M. Cannon. Kristyanna Cowan Known as "Kissy," 3-year-old died shortly after being stabbed dozens of times about 2 a.m. Wednesday Brittney Bergeron Also called "Birdie," 10-year-old was paralyzed after suffering multiple stab wounds Kristyanna Cowan, 3, is shown in an undated photograph provided by her family. Beau Maestas Authorities say 19-year-old has confessed to the attack and implicated his younger sister

A mother trembled and wept uncontrollably Thursday afternoon while describing the carnage from stabbings that claimed the life of her toddler daughter and left her 10-year-old girl paralyzed from the waist down.

An hour later, authorities said Wednesday's horrific knife attack in a Mesquite mobile home park was launched by two teenage siblings outraged that the same woman and her boyfriend had ripped them off in a bogus drug deal.

Murder suspect Beau Maestas, 19, told investigators the couple sold him and his 16-year-old sister a bag containing a white substance for $125, saying it was methamphetamine.

The bag actually contained a common table condiment, police said.

"All this was over an ounce of salt," said Lt. Jerry Hafen of the Nevada Division of Investigation, describing what Maestas told police during a lengthy interview. "The suspects had attempted to purchase some drugs from the mom and her boyfriend, and basically, they sold them something else."

Bobby Schmidt, the mother's boyfriend, rebutted Maestas' allegation.

"It's a lie," he said. "It has nothing to do with drugs."

Tammy Bergeron, the mother of 3-year-old Kristyanna Cowan, who died after the attack, and 10-year-old Brittney Bergeron, who is now a paraplegic, has not publicly addressed allegations that she was involved in a fake drug transaction with the teens suspected of stabbing her daughters.

Bergeron, 34, made a brief and emotional statement Thursday to a throng of reporters gathered outside the hospital, where her surviving daughter is recovering from dozens of stab wounds to her back and arms.

"When I came back to our trailer, I saw my girls lying in a pool of blood, and all I could do was scream for help," she said, her voice quivering. "There were so many stab wounds, I couldn't hold them all. ... This was nothing short of a rage killing."

Before she read the statement outside University Medical Center, reporters gathered there were instructed that she would not answer questions.

The weeping mother wiped her nose and tears from her eyes, and twice stopped to let a volunteer take over the reading when she was overcome with grief.

She offered this explanation as to why the assailants went to the trailer and stabbed her daughters: "The people who did this witnessed a woman giving us money, and we believe the attack was an attempt to rob us," the statement said.

She implored that prosecutors seek the death penalty against those responsible for the attack.

Mesquite police say Maestas has confessed to the stabbings and has implicated his younger sister, whose name has not been released. Police said Maestas also admitted using methamphetamine before the attack.

The siblings remain jailed in central Utah, where they were stopped by a state trooper hours after the Wednesday morning attack. They face felony charges of murder, attempted murder, burglary, conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit burglary. An extradition hearing is scheduled for today.

Clark County District Attorney David Roger said Thursday that the case is eligible for capital punishment, but prosecutors had not decided whether they will pursue it.

Under Nevada law, a murder suspect must be at least 16 to be eligible for the death penalty. Additionally, the murder must have at least one aggravating circumstance.

"There are a couple of aggravating circumstances in this case: burglary and the killing of a person under 14," Roger said.

The attack unfolded slightly before 2 a.m. Wednesday in a mobile home park near the CasaBlanca hotel-casino, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

In the hours before, police say, Maestas had given $125 to Bergeron and her boyfriend, Bobby Schmidt.

Shortly before the attack, Maestas got into an argument with the couple inside the CasaBlanca casino and demanded the money back. Hafen said the disagreement escalated to a fight, and casino security guards ejected Maestas.

Bergeron and Schmidt stayed in the casino, gambling for about another 10 minutes before returning to their home in the nearby mobile home, Hafen said. They discovered the bloody children upon arrival, and a neighbor who heard Bergeron's screams called police.

Before lapsing into unconsciousness, Brittney told police a man had knocked on the trailer door and persuaded her to open it by saying her mother had been injured.

"She opens the door, the man went in, put his hand over her mouth and began stabbing her," Mesquite Deputy Police Chief Joe Szalay said.

Bergeron said most of Brittney's wounds were suffered as she defended herself and tried to protect her little sister.

Just before 8 a.m., a Utah Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 outside Nephi, in the central part of the state, pulled over a vehicle matching the one neighbors reported seeing leaving the park about the time of the attack.

Maestas, his younger sister and his girlfriend, 18-year-old Sabrina Bantam, were taken into custody and later interviewed by Mesquite police detectives who traveled to Nephi.

Bantam, a 2002 graduate of Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite, was released Thursday morning and faces no charges.

"She's a cooperating witness," Szalay said.

Hafen said Maestas had lived in Utah but recently moved to Mesquite to live with his grandmother. His last known Utah address was at an apartment in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray. He was a junior at Cyprus High School during the 2000-01 school year, but school district records showed he transferred out of the district during that year, and Nevada authorities said he then attended Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite.

Maestas said in his confession that he went to the trailer to "even the score over the drug deal," Szalay said. "He said the children started screaming, and that he and his sister started stabbing them and things got out of control."

Using information gleaned from Maestas' confession, police recovered the weapons they believe were used in the attack.

Hafen said the knives, wrapped in bloody clothing, had been discarded at an abandoned gas station off I-15 near the town of Fillmore, Utah, about 60 miles south of where the three teens were arrested.

After the confession, police also served a search warrant at the home of the siblings' grandmother in Mesquite.

"We did recover substantial blood evidence," Hafen said. "We believe they went to Grandma's house and cleaned up before they went to Utah."

Hafen said police found trace amounts of blood in a shower and on towels Maestas and his sister used to dry themselves after showering.

Maestas and his sister are scheduled to appear at an extradition hearing today in Juab County District Court before Judge Donald Eyre.

Szalay said he hadn't decided whether charges would be filed against Bergeron for leaving the children alone.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.