Arizona man convicted of killing best friend, woman, 4 kids
YUMA, Ariz. — An Arizona prisoner was convicted Tuesday of the gruesome killings of his best friend, the man’s girlfriend and her four young children 12 years ago in what prosecutors called a crime motivated by money.
A jury found Preston Strong, 50, guilty of six counts of first-degree murder following a monthslong trial. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty, and the jury will begin considering Strong’s eligibility Friday.
Prosecutors said Strong, who is already serving a life sentence for a separate slaying, spent hours killing 35-year-old Luis Rios, 29-year-old Adrienne Heredia and her four children, ages 6 to 13, in Yuma in 2005.
They said he suffocated Heredia and three of her children and fatally shot her youngest child and Rios. Police said the two oldest children were bound and strangled. A 9 year-old girl also had been strangled, and the 6-year-old was bound by electric cords, police said.