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43-Year-Old Single Mother Allegedly Killed by Own Children

Aired August 14, 2002 - 14:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A 43-year-old single mother has been found dead, allegedly killed by her own children. Police believe the reason is because the woman would not let her daughter go to a party.
We get the story from CNN affiliate KGET's Kurt Rivera.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KURT RIVERA, KGET RIVERA (voice-over): Forty-three-year-old Francisco Comparan, a single mother of three described by friends as funny, caring full of life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's always would be laughing, keep us laughing. That's one of the main things she used to do.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very funny. Everything she said, was like she always had something funny to say.

RIVERA: But when she didn't arrive to work at Bakersfield T- shirt company, coworkers began to worry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't like Francesca not to call.

RIVERA: And then the shocking discovery. Police respond to call of missing person head to North Laurel Glen apartment late Monday night. Answering the door, her 12-year-old daughter. She allegedly tells investigators an argument began over permission to go to a party, that then turned deadly Friday night.

SGT. BILL MAXWELL, BAKERSFIELD POLICE: And at some time during this argument, the mother was hit in the head with a frying pan. And then they proceed -- it's our understanding they proceed to strangle her with an extension cord, take the body out to a patio area, place it into an outside closet, and then leave it there over the weekend.

RIVERA (on camera): Francisco worked here at the T-shirt company embroidering and personalizing shirts. The workers say they had no indication how her life might come to violent end.

DOMINIC WEBBY, COMPARAN'S BOSS: She always had an upbeat spirit about herself, and the ironic thing is she loved her kids -- she loved her kids.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She always protective of her daughter. She just wanted her daughter to have -- to be good. She was -- because she just -- was very protective of daughter. She loved her that much. RIVERA: Close friend Claudia Naya says indeed Comparan spoke highly of her children, but at the same time, private as she was, recently told her, things were getting bad at home.

CLADIA NAYA, FRIEND: Just in her kids were giving her a hard time. One of them is coming in and out of jail. The other one is already locked up. Her daughter was just -- she rebelled against her a lot, always asking why can't she do this, why can't she do that. She just wants more freedom. And the mom was scared. You know, she's only 12 years old, and this wants more freedom.

RIVERA: Claudia Naya says she called Comparan's apartment Monday, asking for her friend. She says it was her 12-year-old daughter who answered, telling her mother had gone down to Los Angeles to visit another son. In reality, Francesa Comparan had been dead for three days.

In Bakersfield, California, this is Kurt Rivera, for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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