A Los Angeles man has been convicted of helping kill the parents of a teenage girl “he became obsessed with” after meeting her “through the ‘furry’ subculture,” prosecutors said Wednesday.
Frank Sato Felix, 33, of the Sun Valley neighborhood, was accused of providing the shotgun and the ammunition that were used to kill the girl’s mother and stepfather at their home in Fullerton, Calif. in 2016.
A friend of the family, who was asleep on the couch at the time, was also shot to death.
According to prosecutors, Felix became romantically involved with 17-year-old Katlynn Goodwill after meeting her as part of the furry community, a subculture that involves people dressing up in costumes that resemble animals with human-like characteristics.
Even though Katlynn was introduced to the community by her mother, 39-year-old Jennifer Goodwill-Yost, neither her mom nor her stepfather, 35-year-old Christopher Yost, approved of the relationship.
On Sept. 24, 2016, Felix, then 25, and another “furry” friend, 21-year-old Joshua Charles Acosta, drove to the Yosts residence to carry out a plan that would help Katlynn “escape” her parents until she turned 18.
After the teen’s parents and their houseguest, 28-year-old Arthur “Billy” Boucher, went to sleep, Acosta — an Army mechanic stationed at Ft. Irwin in Barstow, Calif. — entered the residence and shot Boucher in the head and the girl’s mother in the face.
He later shot the girl’s stepfather as he tried to escape.
The couple’s two young daughters, ages 6 and 9, woke up to find the three dead bodies and called 911.
“Two little girls … went to sleep not knowing the last time they would see their parents would be when they woke up to find them shot to death,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said Wednesday in a statement to the press.
Felix, Acosta and Katlynn then fled to Felix’s home “where they burned their clothes and attempted to destroy their cellphones,” according to prosecutors. They were arrested a short time later.
Acosta was convicted in late 2018 and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Katlynn testified in that trial under immunity that she was repeatedly molested by her stepfather between the ages of 7 and 15.
Felix was convicted of triple murder on Tuesday. He’s expected to be sentenced on Jan. 17 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.