Beau Maestas and His Sister, Monique Maestas Attacked Innocent Children

Beau Maestas, 19, and his sister, Monique Maestas, 16, sought vengeance on January 21, 2003, after being sold salt as methamphetamine. The shady dealers weren't in so they switched their attention to their children, Kristyanna, 10, and Brittney, 3.

The Inside Story

On January 21, 2003, Beau Maestas, 19, and his sister, Monique Maestas, 16, went to the home of Tamara Bergeron and her boyfriend, Robert Schmidt. Tamara's two young daughters, Kristyanna, three, and Brittney, ten, stayed with them at the Casablanca RV park in Mesquite, Nevada.

Tamara and Robert were allegedly approached by the Maestas with the intention of purchasing $125 worth of methamphetamine. When they came home with their purchase, they discovered that the small bag of white stuff contained salt rather than methamphetamine.

They felt taken advantage of and decided to take a revenge.

The furious siblings made their way back to the family's home with big butcher knives in hand. Beau rang the doorbell but quickly discovered that only Kristyanna and Brittney were there; Tamara and Robert were playing slots at a nearby casino, leaving the kids alone at home.

Beau asked Brittney to open the front door for him, but she refused, saying she doesn't allow strangers into their house. Afterwards, Monique knocked on Brittney's door and requested that she open it because her mother was hurt. "Your mum has suffered a serious injury. You must accompany me, Monique yelled. The trick worked, and Brittney let Beau and Monique in by opening the door.

The Attack On The Innocent Children

The siblings attacked the little girls viciously as soon as the door was opened. Kristyanna's throat was slashed, and the attack was so vicious that the blade went halfway through her head. She had a second stab wound to her lower leg in addition to having her foot cut from the tendon.

Kristyanna unfortunately passed away at the scene from her injuries. We can do this simple or we can do this hard, Beau said as he seized Brittney from the back. Then he stabbed her tiny body with the knife twenty times in total. Her spinal cord was cut by two stab wounds to the back. Brittney was pleading with the cops when they arrived: “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die! ”

Fortunately, Brittney was able to survive her wounds, but she is now paralyzed from the waist down.

The brothers and sisters fled the crime site and dumped their blood-stained clothes and knives in a small Utah town. 

Arrest of The Criminals

They were soon apprehended after Beau’s girlfriend was able to place them at the scene that evening. Beau admitted to "slaughtering the little piggies" in a letter written from a prison. I lost it and went and killed the younger daughter of that mother, and I paralyzed the elder one.

Tamara and Robert denied being a part of the phony drug trade after the killings. For leaving the kids at home alone for a number of hours around the time of the stabbing, they were accused of both child abuse and negligence. Tamara was given a prison term of at least four years.

Under a plea agreement that did not protect him from the possibility of the death penalty, Beau confessed guilty to first-degree murder. Beau was sentenced to death for the murder.

In 2005, the United States Supreme Court declared that those who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes cannot be sentenced to death. Monique was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years because she was 17 at the time of the crime.