Teen Granddaughter Convicted of Killing Grandparents in Rosemead

A jury convicted today an 18-year-old girl of killing her grandparents when she was 14 years old, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced. A jury deliberated just over a day before finding Sophia Cristo guilty of the first-degree murders of Jack Bezner, 71, and his wife, Susan, 64, at the couple’s Arica Avenue home in Rosemead in case BA422447. The jury also found true the special circumstances of lying in wait and multiple murders and the special allegation that Cristo personally used a knife to stab Susan Bezner. Deputy District Attorney Scott McPheron of the Family Violence Division prosecuted the case. Cristo was charged along with her then 21-year-old boyfriend, Rodolfo Lopez, of fatally stabbing the couple on Aug. 9, 2010, then fleeing to El Paso, Texas. Lopez, now 25, is awaiting trial on the same charges. He returns to court on April 24 in Department 120 for a pretrial conference in case BA361170. Because of her age at the time of the murders, she was ineligible for the death penalty. She is facing life without the possibility of parole when she returns on April 22 for sentencing in Department 120. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.