A 24-year-old man accused of torturing and killing a woman and her three daughters in Lancaster before setting their home on fire has been found guilty on multiple counts of first-degree murder, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Corey Lynn King was convicted in an Antelope Valley courtroom on four counts of first-degree murder that included special circumstance allegations including torture, and one count each of arson and grand theft auto, according to a news release from the DA’s office.
Evidence showed that on Sept. 9, 2008, King — then 18 — was at the home of Sonya Durfield Harris when he stabbed the 43-year-old mother at least 50 times, prosecutors said.
He then stabbed 14-year-old Ebony Horton more than 60 times before beating and stomping 11-year-old Melissa Harris to death and strangling 9-year-old Kayla Clark, according to the DA’s office.
After the killings, he drove to a gas station and filled up several bottles with gasoline, prosecutors said. He returned to the home and poured the gas over the victims and throughout the home, then set it on fire.
Prosecutors stated that King possibly killed Harris over an argument, and that the three girls were killed because they witnessed the crime.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.
King faces life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, the DA’s office stated in the release.
The penalty phase of the trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 2.