Gruesome scene where jealous sister killed sister, baby described in Fresno court

With a 9mm pistol in her hand and a jealous rage in her heart, Yarelly Solorio Rivera quietly paced back and forth inside the bedroom where her sister and infant daughter were sleeping peacefully.

She wondered to herself: Is killing her 18-year-old sister Yanelly Solorio Rivera and her 3-week-old baby Celine worth it? Will it solve her problems of feeling like an outcast in her own family?

Standing at the foot of her sister’s bed, she squeezed off four, maybe five rounds, she recalls in an interview with detectives, striking Yanelly in her torso and face.

Baby Celine was waking from her slumber when Yarelly shot her in the stomach.

Yarelly Solorio Rivera, 23, and her boyfriend Martin Arroyo Morales, 26, are accused of killing the young mother and daughter.

They were in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for the criminal case against them to continue.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Deborah Miller introduced several law enforcement witnesses who described the crime scene, their interviews with the defendants and a family member who was there the morning of the shooting Sept. 24.

In a taped interview with Fresno police detectives, Yarelly Solorio Rivera said she was growing increasingly jealous and angry over the attention her sister and her baby daughter were getting from her parents.

“I couldn’t take it anymore,” she said in the interview with detectives. “I was angry.”

After she shot her sister and the baby, she handed the gun off to her boyfriend, who ran from the family’s southwest Fresno home in the 2500 block of Fruit Avenue, just south of Edison High School.

Police said he ditched the gun, but it was later found with Yarelly’s help.

One of the first to arrive on the scene that morning was K-9 officer and SWAT team member Ted Garcia, who was told the shooter may still be inside the home. Garcia and another officer entered the house through the garage and saw a woman on a bed in one of the bedrooms. He announced he was a police officer, but she did not respond.

As police fully entered the room, they discovered the bloody scene.

Garcia found Yanelly’s lifeless body on top of the bed with her infant daughter cradled in her left arm. Yanelly had multiple gunshot wounds and there was blood splatter on the wall closest to Yanelly’s head.

The baby also had a gunshot wound and showed no signs of life, Garcia said.

Yarelly initially tried to convince police she knew nothing about the shooting and tried to suggest other possible suspects, including Yanelly’s boyfriend, who police later cleared.

During a follow-up interview, she broke down and admitted to shooting her sister and the baby. She told detectives she was tired of the attention her sister and her baby were getting. Yarelly has two children and felt they were being ignored, she said to detectives.

Third sister testifies in court

A younger sister testified that there was constant bickering between Yarelly and Yanelly.

“One time, Yarelly recorded Yanelly saying she wanted to drag her kids into the field,” she testified.

The sister was awake the morning of the shooting and knew something bad happened when she heard four shots coming from the home. She was outside, closing a gate to make sure their dogs didn’t get out of the yard.

She also saw Yarelly’s boyfriend running from the home with a gun in his hand. She kept that information to herself when she first talked to police, fearing retaliation from Arroyo Morales.

The younger sister later revealed to police what she saw that morning.

When asked by Miller why she didn’t call 911 immediately after hearing the shots, she said she was scared.

“This may sound cruel, but I knew in my head what happened in that room,” the younger sister testified.

Yarelly Soloria Rivera is being defended by Ralph Torres and Jonathan Richter is defending Martin Arroyo Morales.

The preliminary hearing continues Thursday in Dept. 73.