VISTA — A man who allegedly stabbed his 7-year-old daughter to death at the family’s Oceanside home more than five years ago was ordered Wednesday to stand trial on charges that include murder.
Pedro Araujo, 32, is charged in the slaying of Mariah Araujo on July 31, 2019, in a bathroom of the family’s home on Las Vegas Drive. He’s charged with murder and assault in regard to Mariah, as well as a misdemeanor child cruelty count involving the girls’ then-6-year-old sister, who was also at the home when the killing occurred.
Araujo has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If he’s convicted and found to be sane, he faces 26 years to life in state prison. If he’s found to have been legally insane at the time of the killing, he would be committed to a state hospital.
At a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Vista Superior Court to determine if Araujo’s case will proceed to trial, Araujo’s mother testified that she left work on the day of the killing and rushed home after receiving numerous phone calls from her sister-in-law, who said Araujo was acting strangely.
When she arrived at the home, she encountered her son, whose shirt was stained with blood, she said. She testified that upon seeing blood leading toward the master bedroom she walked in that direction but stopped when Araujo asked her, “Where are you going?”
She then took Mariah’s sister and left the home, then instructed her sister-in-law to call police, she said.
Brent Keys, an investigator with the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office who was an Oceanside police detective at the time of the killing, testified that emergency responders found the girl dead in the bathroom connected to the master bedroom. She had sustained around 10 stab wounds, and the knife allegedly used in the killing was found on the bathroom floor, according to Wednesday’s testimony.
Keys testified that he interviewed Araujo afterward, who initially told the detective that he went on a walk and when he returned home, he found his daughter wounded. Keys said he did not believe Araujo in part because there were no signs of forced entry into the home.
Upon further questioning, Araujo itted to killing the girl and said he did it because “voices in his head directed him to do it,” according to Keys, who testified that Araujo made references to hearing voices coming from the walls and a television.
When asked how he felt about it, Araujo said, “He felt bad about doing it, but he had to do it,” Keys testified.Araujo remains in custody without bail.
