Smiling Sister 'Cookie' OUT OF JAIL After Mother's Brutal Murder

You might remember the sisters accused of joining a friend in the brutal broad daylight killing of a Texas mother of five. It was a stabbing death that made national headlines, not just because of the horrific allegations, but because of the demeanor the suspects appeared to show when they were arrested. One of them even smiling for the camera. That's per Good Citizen on YouTube. Now we have an update we did not see coming. We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. You might remember this story. We first talked about it over the summer and it's rare for someone who's accused of murder to be able to enjoy life outside of a jail cell as their case works through the legal system. We certainly see people who are held in jail who are accused of lesser offenses and in this case, you have three women who are accused of a horrific, bloody and brazen attack on a mother of five in broad daylight. And yet one of the suspects, the one who was accused of bringing the knife to the altercation and stabbing the victim in the back has made bond. That's the suspect we're talking about. 19 year old Amaya Cookie Diaz. And she is the one who smiled and even laughed as she was filmed being taken into custody back on June 25th. Local blogger in Del Rio, Texas, Good Citizen, posts this to YouTube. Now somehow, Cookie was granted a bond that she was able to make and she's now out of jail. We spoke with the court in Del Rio, Texas, and I'll tell you what we have learned in just a moment, but I want to remind you of the horrific details of this story. This is Caro Pena. She's the victim and she was a mom to five kids. She was just 32 years old and police believe that to some extent she knew her alleged attackers, but they haven't gone into detail about what their relationship may have been. And her alleged attackers are Cookie Diaz, who is now out of jail, her sister, Kitty Diaz, Cookie and Kitty. And then you have their friend, a woman named Keandra Fass. Now Cookie's older sister is Kitty Diaz and her social media really grabbed our attention because it shows that she has a son and she really presents herself as this loving mom whose entire world is her child. But also as you look at these images, you remember that not only is she accused of being part of a brutal murder, that police are now alleging, she's also accused of trying to cover it all up. Now, this is a TikTok that was posted by Kitty Mia Diaz. And this is a video that she posted on TikTok on June 9th of her and her four-year-old son. So this was just a couple of weeks before this alleged murder took place. She then posted this days later, where she says, quote, I've always wondered what it felt like to be loved unconditionally. Now I know what it feels like as she shows images of her son. And then she goes into this caption that reads, my Gigi, the one who saved my life in ways he'll never fully understand. The day he came into my world, he gave me a reason to be stronger, better, and keep pushing forward. Every smile, every hug, every mom reminds me how blessed I am. He is my greatest accomplishment, my biggest motivation, and the piece of my heart that walks outside my body every day. No matter how hard life gets, one look at him makes everything worth it. I love you more than words could ever explain my sweet baby boy, my Gigi. Thank you for saving me, giving me purpose, and showing me a love so pure and unconditional. You will always be my greatest blessing. And that is a beautifully, frankly, written caption from a mom to her son, it seems. And when you see these images and you hear those words, I mean, you are just left wondering. How is the person we see in that TikTok account the same person in the mugshot now being accused of this horrific crime along with her sister? And again, that sister is 19-year-old Cookie, the girl who is now out of jail. We will note that Kitty Diaz is still in jail. And Cookie is the one who is accused of bringing the knife to this confrontation and allegedly stabbing her in the back. Now, here is what we know from police about what allegedly took place in Del Rio, Texas on June 25th. So, police say they first learned about what happened after they got a call from a hospital about a stabbing victim. And Carl Pena had been stabbed three times, they say, twice in the back and once in the stomach. Her injuries were so bad, they sent her to San Antonio in hopes of saving her life, but she passed away. Now, police say they figured out that Pena had allegedly been stabbed at this home in Del Rio, Texas on June 25th. And they said, this is in South Texas. Now, they didn't unveil who they learned that information from. But when they get on scene, they go to the house next door and that's where they allegedly make contact with 19-year-old Keandra Faz, who is the friend of Cookie and Kitty. Now, according to police, Faz claims that Carl Pena showed up at her house, quote, looking to start a fight. Now, the reason for that fight is unclear. And it's also interesting that police allege that this altercation took place at a very specific address, but Faz appears to live at the house next door, according to these court records. So we don't know who lives at the address at this point that police list when they say that is where they went and where they believe that this altercation began. So you have Pena, who, according to Faz, shows up looking for a fight. Now, not only do police have witness statements about what allegedly took place, because this took place in broad daylight, out in the open, and police also say they have doorbell camera footage of the entire thing from the home where this all took place. Now, police say that Carl Pena shows up at Keandra's location and she's driving a black pickup truck. Shortly after that black Chrysler shows up, this is where Cookie and Kitty, the two sisters, enter the story. Police write that the sisters get out of their car and they approach Carl Pena. And quote, within the video footage, Amaya, that's Cookie, is observed with an object believed to be a knife in her right hand. Cookie and Carolina get into an altercation and Cookie is observed striking Carolina in the back where blood can be observed on the back of her shirt. Cookie's clothing description was observed to be a red tank top and blue jeans. So Kitty then allegedly physically assaults Carolina on the video and Keandra Faz also allegedly assaults Carolina, who is Carl Pena. Now, it is unclear how Pena got to the hospital, but police say after the attack or alleged killers, they fled the scene. And it's important to note that it took officers roughly two hours to make arrests after they were called to this hospital, which is a pretty quick investigation. Now, police then track the Diaz sisters to a home on the other side of town. And that's where they say Cookie's car, which she allegedly drove to the fight, was parked outside. It's also important to note that police say on video during the fight, Kitty was wearing a pink tank top. And that's where they say Cookie's car, which she allegedly drove to the blue jeans. Cookie was wearing a red tank and blue jeans. Yet when police see them a short time later at the house, they allegedly fled to quote, while speaking with Kitty and Amaya, it was observed that they were no longer wearing the clothing originally seen on the video footage. And they had recently showered as their hair was wet. Later that night, around nine o'clock, word came in that Carl Pena had died from her injuries at the hospital in San Antonio. And sadly, this case became a murder. And it is important to note that when you see the video of the Diaz sisters being arrested, and they seem to be, to some extent, lighthearted, that was before this case was a murder. Not that it makes the situation any better, but certainly the charges they're facing became far more significant in that moment. So police documents say that Cookie Diaz, Kitty Diaz, and Keandra Faz are set to face murder charges. Kitty is facing that additional charge of tampering with evidence. And that's where they say that Cookie Diaz, Kitty Diaz, and Keandra Faz are set to be charged with tampering with evidence. Now, according to court records, all three of the suspects are unemployed. Now, there is also an image that is circulating online that shows the alleged altercation between Pena and her three attackers. And that image, it is far too graphic to show you, but there appears to be blood, I've seen it, on the back of Carl Pena as she is surrounded by three women. And that just speaks to the fact that that image exists, really speaks to all of this was. One of Pena's friends told Fox News, quote, that girl, she was a fighter. She was still standing her ground. Now, this attack, it is awful, right? And it just takes place out in the open. And you have these sisters who were accused of this terrible crime, and they're even accused of trying to cover up the crime. And that just makes it even more confusing and bizarre that Cookie Diaz, Kitty Diaz, and Keandra Faz, all of this was. And that just makes it even more confusing and bizarre that Cookie Diaz, Kitty Diaz, was granted a bond that she would be able to make so she could get out of jail. Now, there may be pieces of information that we don't in this story that may explain all of that but from what we understand initially all three suspects their bonds were set around five million dollars but then in july so just about a month after the murder takes place a judge lowers the bond for cookie and kitty to two million dollars and it's unclear why that decision was made keandra faz's bond is still reportedly 5.2 million she has pleaded not guilty to the charges already and she has a pre-trial hearing set for december 11th according to the new york post and the diaz sisters are set to appear in court in november five million dollars may have been too steep of a bond for cookie diaz but two million dollars apparently opened the door for her or her family to put up the 10 needed with a bail bond to get her out which is 200 000 she was able to do it we spoke to the courts and they tell us that cookie bonded out of jail on october 6th so that's tuesday of this week the valverde county sheriff also tells us that her sister kitty diaz and that other suspect keandra faz are still in jail so you have one sister out one sister the sister that we see on tiktok talking about her son she is still in jail and then their friend is still in jail now cookie and kitty have yet to enter pleas on these charges that they're facing and again it is unclear what the motive is for all of this for the altercation for carl pena going to that home allegedly looking for a fight and what the motive was for the alleged murder join us now to talk more about this criminal defense attorney matt mangino always great to have you on law and crime here um you don't see a lot of murder suspects especially in in a case as gruesome as this someone who is able to get out of jail um what do you make of cookie diaz being able to do that well uh chris in texas you know anybody who is charged with a crime other than a capital offense is entitled uh to bell uh so in this case uh which is not unusual it's a first degree murder charge it's not capital the bonds were set very high in this case and that's that's sort of par for the course in texas you know originally i think their five million dollar um bond so you know that bond was reduced to two million which is still a pretty substantial bond uh you know for the average uh defendant to post but in this case you know three defendants one of them uh has posted bond and that's uh cookie diaz well and i guess like when i looked at it it's like so if you're going to set it at five um and i know like two five you know three million dollars is a lot of money like it's a big difference but it's also like still in the ballpark of being a high bond so it's like why would a judge and we don't know why in this situation but like why would a judge lower the bond like this to make it where it's like still high but more attainable than maybe it was at five million well there's a lot of factors that go into setting a bond um you know primarily the bond is to ensure that someone appears for trial okay so that's really what the bond is about we're going to let you out on the street but we're going to make you post this this monetary bond that's going to ensure that you show and that's public safety. You know, oftentimes a defendant is dangerous and has a history of dangerous conduct, you know, so that could warrant a higher bond as well. But primarily, when we think about a bond, this person has been accused of a crime. They haven't been convicted. They're no different than any other citizen other than they've been accused of a crime. And so bond is to permit people to go about their normal activity as long as the court is confident they will show up for their proceedings. So she ends up using this bail bonds company, El Amigo Bail Bonds there in South Texas. And according to the New York Post, it was $200,000 she put up in cash. That's a lot of money to just like have on hand. And I believe that she was listed as being unemployed. So maybe it comes from a family member. I don't know where it came from. But I mean, how does that process work where you have someone who is in jail? It's 10% of the $2 million that she's able to put up. Like, how does that process play out? Well, there's a couple of different ways that it could happen. You could have a bond of $2 million actually come to the court with $2 million and the court will hold that $2 million until your case is disposed of. And then they'll give you that $2 million back. Most people can't come up with $2 million cash. Most people can't come up with $200,000 cash. But here, they went to a bonds person, which is kind of like an insurance company, you pay them a premium 10% of the bond $200,000. You don't get that premium back, that money's gone. And what they do is they ensure that you'll show up in the future. If you don't show up, that bond company is now on the hook for $2 million, because that's what the bonds company is now on the hook for $2 million, because that's what the bonds company is now on the hook for $2 million. And so in this instance, that $200,000 is gone. It's not coming back to the defendant. So as a bond company, and again, I don't know, Cookie Diaz personally, she's facing a very serious crime. crime, like what typically does a bond company do to make sure that that person, I mean, they have to make a decision on whether or not they want to be able to like pretty much invest in this person to make sure like if she goes into the wind, you know, they're on the hook for a lot of money. Right. So they'll look into her background. They'll look at her criminal history. You know, they'll look at it. Had she ever been charged before? Did she abscond in the past, not show up and have someone have to go out and look for her? The other thing is that bond companies do is they keep very close tabs on people that have extremely high bonds. OK, they want to know. It's kind of like community supervision done by a private company. They're going to keep a close eye on her because they don't want her to flee. They don't want her to take off because they're going to have their hands full then defending this two million dollar bond that they're on the hook for. So so there's a lot. There's a lot that goes into it. But certainly a bond company, you know, when someone comes to them and says, hey, I have two hundred thousand dollars cash, if you can post a two million dollar bond, they're not going to walk away from that's a big chunk of cash that's come their way. So they're going to do their best to make sure she shows up and she's available for court. But but they're going to take their chances with the two hundred thousand dollar cash payment. Yeah, it's interesting because when you look at the allegations, as we know them, that have been laid out by law enforcement, Cookie Diaz is the one there's this altercation between Keandra Fahs, allegedly with the victim, Carl Pena, and then the Diaz sisters show up. And Cookie's the one with the knife, police say, like she's the one who brought the alleged murder weapon to the scene. And yet her bond is lower. Does that surprise you? Like, is there just like something potentially going on here that we I mean, there's always information we don't know. But it's like this is the person who, as police law enforcement at the time said, like escalated this situation to to where it became deadly. Right. You know, she appears to be the person that inflicted these moral wounds on the victim. But there are three defendants. They're all charged with first degree murder. Two of them remain in jail. One still has a five million dollar bond. Cookie's sister, Kitty, I think, also has a reduced bond. But that bond hasn't been. Yeah, posted yet. So there's a lot of factors that could go into to something like this. Why does the family, you know, pay a two hundred thousand dollar bond for only one of two family members? And we're speculating here, Chris, but but I would suspect that there's something there's some threat against Cookie in the jail. Obviously, people who are in jail have connections to people who are outside of jail. And maybe there have been some threats. And the family is so concerned with those threats that they wanted to get Cookie out of jail and, you know, protect her at home in some way. And maybe those same threats haven't been lodged against Kitty or Keandra. So so they're going to remain there and you're going to post the bond to get her out to protect her. And again, we're speculating about that. You know, you have to we need more information. The other thing that's that's interesting about this is that, you know, the person who has bonded out is actually the the primary sort of suspect in this homicide. And she's the only one who is is out of jail at this point. And in looking at kind of the timeline of this, too, because we first covered this, I think it was our first episode on it was June 29th, but then Carl Pena was killed on June 25th. And just looking now, like Cookie is due back in court November 4th, for her arraignment. And so like, I mean, we're talking like, what's that four or five months, like period of time between like arrest and arraignment? Like, I know every jurisdiction is different, but just what do you make of that? Well, I can't specifically speak for Texas, But but in my home state in Pennsylvania, we have what we call a formal arraignment. And I would assume that Texas is is similar in that regard. And basically with that formal arraignment is is is just a tracking method. It's a it's a it's a means for which the court keeps track of cases, make sure that they're moving along, make sure that people have attorneys that that they understand what the charges are. It also sort of starts a timeline in which you can file pretrial motions to challenge the charges. And I'm assuming that Texas has a similar process as Pennsylvania does. You know, and so her arraignment is going to is an important point in this case because it really begins a lot of the things that happen pretrial in a case. And it's especially a case of this magnitude. You're going to have pretrial motions. You're going to have other issues that are going to come. Before the court, before trial, when you look at this altercation and what's been alleged and it feels like there's multiple phases to it that eventually leads to the outcome, which was Carl Pena, this mom of five losing her life. But according to Keandra Faz Faz, Pena shows up at whatever house she was at. And in her words, like she was looking for a fight. And police have said in other interviews that, you know, they knew each other to an extent. They don't believe that. This was some sort of random attack. And there could be, you know, whoever, whatever the circumstances were, I don't know. But if Pena shows up, she's looking for a fight and then you have this altercation that begins and then it goes along and then you have more parties that enter the situation. One of them has a knife like does the legal system like how does the legal system look at that? Is it like one big mess of then one person ends up? But or can you go by piece by piece and saying like, well, this part of it was this, you know, altercation between two people. Then suddenly it's an altercation involving four people. And then you have one person that brings the weapon. Well, right. And Chris, as you as you know, and the viewers know, these self-defense cases come in many different forms, you know, but ultimately, even whether it's stand your ground or other self-defense allegations, you have to use sort of equal force. You have to feel as though. That you're facing imminent, serious bodily injury or death when you use lethal force. And in this situation, we don't know what led up to this confrontation. Obviously, they they knew each other. This doesn't have any of the indicia of a random act of violence. And what we know is is somebody was stabbed and ultimately killed and also also physically assaulted. But the two other defendants in this case. So the question is, what what precipitated that confrontation? What was said? Were there threats made? Was there any fear of imminent harm by Cookie in this case when she she came out of the vehicle with a knife? I think a self-defense claim based on what we know at this point would be really a difficult defense. You know, this appears to me, if anything, could be a reduction from first degree murder, maybe some sort of heat of passion defense. You know, you're not saying that you didn't do this, but you did it, you know, for some reason that you kind of lost your your composure or you were so angry about what you learned that you did this. So I don't see self-defense. At this point, you know, being a viable defense in this case. And I remember, I mean, it's a different type of case, but, you know, in Carmelo Anthony also took place in Texas. Like a key part of that was, you know, you can't respond to a shove with a stab. And, you know, in this case, you have a knife as well entering this altercation. Everybody has seen the video at this point. Cookie and Kitty being arrested and Cookie, who's the one who bonds out, like is laughing as she is, is brought to the police cruiser. Certainly not from a public standpoint. A good look, considering just how awful. Awful the allegations are related to this, this altercation. But how might something like that play into or does it at all play into like the legal proceedings of this case that like as a prosecutor, you have video of this person who hours after she allegedly stabbed someone seemed to not care at all. Right. Yeah. So the question would be, would that have any probative value that that sort of interaction with the news media have any probative value in the trial? Certainly, if it gets in as evidence in this case, it's going to be not a good look for the jury. You know, here's someone accused of crime and who's a heinous crime and who's kind of laughing and smiling and answering questions directed from the media. She's put into a police car, you know, so that that is not helpful to the defense. The question is, would it be admissible in this case? It's obviously the public knows it. And, you know, Del Rio, I'm sure, is is not a huge community on the border of Texas. You know, did it does it taint the jury pool ultimately in this case? And that's that's something else that would probably come up pretrial. Yeah. And just a brutal, brutal case. You know, certainly there's more to there's definitely more to the story than than what has been released publicly at this point. We'll see what happens next. Matt Mangino, criminal defense attorney. Always great to have you on Law and Crime. Thanks for being here. Thank you, Chris. Good talking with you. That will do it for On the Case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.