EDITOR’s note The Cullman Times takes a look back at the top stories from 2019. There is no scientific method to our selections, so if you disagree, feel free to share on our FaceBook page which stories meant the most to you. Our Number 3 story – Child murders shock community.

Residents in rural east Cullman County were shaken in October by a double homicide that left two young siblings dead and their mother, the suspect in the case, in the Cullman County Detention Center where she continues to await trial on murder charges.

Sara Franco Tapia, 32, was arrested after the deaths of two of her children, three year-old Alvaro Garcia and nine year-old Taylor Garcia. The siblings died in an Oct. 12 attack at their Baileyton-area residence that also resulted in injuries to Tapia, who was hospitalized with injuries that the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office described as self-inflicted.

Law enforcement recovered a knife at the scene of the incident, which unfolded at a home on County Road 1718. The criminal complaint against Tapia alleges that she killed each of the children, both boys, “by strangling him and/or cutting his throat.”

Tapia has been charged with two counts of capital murder, as well as an additional murder charge that, under Alabama law, can be invoked whenever there are aggravating circumstances surrounding a suspected homicide. That charge, capital murder of two or more persons, stems from the state’s contention that Tapia caused the deaths of “two or more persons…by one act or pursuant to one scheme or course of conduct,” as outlined in the Alabama criminal code.

At a press conference shortly after the deaths, Sheriff Matt Gentry said the alleged violence does not reflect the culture of the community where the incident occurred, and emphasized the trauma of the loss on the deceased sibling’ remaining family: “Those children are living through something that is horrific, and that we would not wish upon our worst enemy.”

Tapia remains in the Cullman County Detention Center, where, as an accused capital offender, she is being held without bond in accordance with Alabama law.