EDUARDO and MARIO ZAVALA - 12 and 11 yo/ Accused: Father; Isidro Zavala - Boynton Beach FL

Florida man snaps, kills his 2 children in front of estranged wife before killing himself
Isidro Zavala, 45, snuck into his wife's Boynton Beach home early Saturday, killed his two sons and then shot himself in front of his wife. Cops believe the brutal murder suicide was a plot to punish the wife, Victoria Flores Zavala, and make her suffer the loss of her children.

Thursday, February 7, 2013
By Philip Caulfield / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

A south Florida man killed his two sons in front of his estranged wife and then shot himself to death in what authorities said was a demented plan to punish the wife for leaving him.

Isidro Zavala, 45, snuck into his wife's Boynton Beach home at around 2 a.m. Saturday and used a rope to strangle his children, Eduardo Zavala, 12, and Mario Zavala, 11, while their mother, Victoria Flores Zavala, 36, tried to fight him off, police said.

Zavala then pulled out a .38 caliber pistol and shot both boys before turning the gun on himself, according to the Palm Beach Post.

Victoria Zavala begged her husband to kill her instead of their children, authorities said.
"She said, 'Why won't you kill me?'" Boynton Beach Police Chief Matthew Immler told the Post.

"He said, 'No, you're going to live with this,'" Immler said.

Authorities said Zavala had plotted the brutal murder-suicide for some time.

He had even turned down an invite to a party on Friday night, telling his roommate that he “had something to do,” the newspaper reported.

At the crime scene - which Zavala shared with his wife before they filed for divorce last year - investigators found a bag containing a TEC-9 automatic handgun, extra ammo, duct tape, heavy-duty shears and a note addressed to the couple's 19-year-old son, who was not at the home.

Stunned neighbors remembered Zavala as a loyal church-goer, devoted father and hard-working owner of a landscape company.

He was heavily involved in his sons' Little League baseball program, offering to trim the park's hedges when they became overgrown, the Post reported.

"(He) was a fixture here. He would help us out immensely," East Boynton Little League chief Jack McVey told the newspaper. "That's why it's so surprising that he did this."

Police said they were never called to Zavala’s home, and the Florida Department of Children and families had no record of dealing with the family.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/man-kills-sons-front-wife-article-1.1254709#ixzz2KESiSe22