Sandi Nieves is a woman from California who was sentenced to death for the murders of her four children
Sandi Nieves was upset that her husband was leaving her so in order to get back at him she would murder her four children
Sandi Nieves would place her five kids in front of a television set, put on a movie and waited for the children to fall asleep. When the children were asleep Sandi would pour gasoline all over the living room and set the house on fire. One of the kids was able to escape
Sandi Nieves would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
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Where is Sandi Nieves now
Sandi Nieves is currently incarcerated at the Central California Women’s Facility
Sandi Nieves Trial
As 16-year-old David Nieves took to the stand, he glanced at the woman he used to look up to.
His mother Sandi Nieves, then 36, was on trial for the most unforgivable crime.
Sandi was accused of murdering David’s four younger sisters and attempting to kill him
Nikolet, 12, Rashel, 11, Jaqlene, 7, and Kristl, 5, had all died from smoke inhalation during a house fire.
And now their own mother stood accused of starting the blaze deliberately.
But why would Sandi Nieves want her own children dead? And what had pushed her to carry out such a heinous crime?
It was reported that Sandi Nieves was born and raised in a dysfunctional environment.
She was married twice. First to Fernando Nieves, with whom she had David, Nikolet and Rashel.
After a three-year marriage, the couple divorced and Sandi Nieves had custody of their three children.
In the years that followed, Nieves married her second husband, David Folden. It was reported he was also her former stepdad.
He adopted her children, then the couple went on to have Jaqlene and Kristl.
But Sandi Nieves ’ second marriage didn’t last, either.
After splitting from Folden after eight years, she reportedly started dating a much younger man.
But, again, things didn’t work out and he left her.
Around the same time, Nieves was fighting hard to hang onto her kids in an ugly child-support battle with Folden.
That, coupled with the string of failed relationships, made Nieves a bitter and angry woman.
Scorned, she wanted to hurt her exes. And she decided the best way to do that was through their children.
So, in July 1998, Nieves gathered the kids in the kitchen and told them they were having a slumber party.
The kitchen had a TV and video player. The kids had never slept in there before, and found the idea exciting.
They watched films, then nodded off in sleeping bags.
While they slept, Nieves poured gas on the carpets and set them alight.
When the children began waking up gagging from the smoke, Sandi Nieves ordered them to stay where they were.
By the time firefighters responded to a call at the house, the four girls were tucked up in sleeping bags, dead.
Sandi and David were rushed to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation. Both survived.
But poor David was now an only child. And his own twisted mother was to blame.
It seemed she’d killed her children for no other reason than to hurt her exes.