Man ‘obsessed’ with teen from ‘furry’ community helps kill her parents, officials say
A man accused of helping kill the parents of a teenager with whom “he became obsessed with” after meeting her through the “furry” community has been convicted, California prosecutors say.
Frank Sato Felix, 33, of Sun Valley, was convicted of three felony counts of first-degree murder in relation to the 2016 killings, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said in a Nov. 13 news release.
“Violence is never the answer, and a sick and twisted plan turned into life behind bars for two young men,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the release.
The 17-year-old girl met Felix and Charles Acosta after prosecutors say her mother introduced her to the “‘furry’ subculture, which involves people dressing up in animal costumes.”
Felix “became romantically involved” with the girl; however, her 39-year-old mother and 35-year-old stepfather disapproved, prosecutors said.
Felix and Acosta, who at the time was an Army mechanic stationed at Fort Irwin in Barstow, are accused of driving to the family’s Fullerton home on Sept. 24, 2016, to help the teen escape “until she turned 18,” prosecutors said.
Once her parents and their house guest, Arthur “Billy” Boucher, fell asleep, the girl left the home and “went into the truck with Felix,” according to prosecutors.
Acosta is accused of entering the home and shooting “Boucher in the head as he was asleep on the living room couch,” prosecutors said.
“Acosta then went into the master bedroom and shot the 17-year-old’s mother in the face,” prosecutor said.
While the stepfather tried to escape to an outside patio, he was shot in the head, according to prosecutors.
“Acosta fled the home,” prosecutors said.
The couple’s daughters, ages 6 and 9, woke to find their parents’ and family-friend’s bodies and called 911, prosecutors said.
“My dad is in the backyard dead and my mom is dead in bed,” a child said in a portion of the 911 call played to jurors, KNBC reported in 2018.
Acosta escaped with the teen and Felix as they drove to Felix’s Sun Valley home, prosecutors said.
There, “they burned their clothes and attempted to destroy their cell phones,” prosecutors said.
Felix is accused of providing Acosta the shotgun and ammunition used in the killings, according to prosecutors.
Fullerton police eventually arrested Felix at his home, and “Acosta was arrested at his barracks at Fort Irwin,” prosecutors said.
In October 2018, the teen girl testified against Acosta in exchange for immunity, The Orange County Register reported.
During her testimony, she said she was sexually abused by her stepfather for eight years and asked for the pair’s help to run away from home, the newspaper reported.
She came to doubt her decision but felt pressured by Acosta to follow through, she testified, the newspaper reported.
Acosta was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in December 2018 after he was convicted of three felony murder charges, according to news releases from the district attorney’s office.
Felix is scheduled to appear in court again for sentencing Jan. 17 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.
Fullerton is about a 30-mile drive southeast from Los Angeles.
