On July 1, 1998, at nearly 1 p.m., a call came into the 911 emergency call center to report a fire at her home on Cherry Creek Drive in Saugus, California. The woman caller had a dry, matter-of-fact tone “The house is all smoke.” The dispatcher asked if the house was still smoking and the woman said “No, not now, it’s over.” She then went on to say “We had a fire last night. I woke up and everything was black.” The dispatcher in a bit of confusion confirms what she heard. “You had a fire last night?”

Caller: “Uh-huh”
Dispatcher: “And you just woke up?”
Caller: “Yes”
Dispatcher: “You were sleeping the whole time during the fire?”
Caller: “Yeah, I assume”

When responders arrived, they found that the fire had already been extinguished for some time. Sandi Nieves, who called first responders, was covered in soot and was waiting in the living room on the couch along with her 14-year-old son, David who also had soot on him. Both of them were eating cookies and acting bizarrely. David was zoning out watching TV. Sandi told the paramedics that everything was fine and they didn’t need to be there. What authorities would discover was a grisly crime that no one could have ever imagined.

Join Jen and Cam on this episode of Our True Crime Podcast entitled ‘Sleep My Babies: Sandi Nieves.’

Listener Discretion by Edward October @octoberpodVHS

Music by our E.P. Nico @theinkypawprint

Promo by our friend at I Talk To Ghosts. https://www.italktoghosts.com/

Sources:
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2021/s092410.htmlhttps://thecinemaholic.com/sandi-nieves-where-is-the-killer-mom-now/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9541967/Death-sentence-overturned-California-mom-murdered-four-daughters-fire.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/california-supreme-court-reverses-death-sentence-sandi-nieves-1998-murders-4-young-daughters/

https://murderpedia.org/female.N/n/nieves-sandi.htm

https://www.liveakhbar.in/2023/09/16/where-is-sandi-nieves-now-and-who-is-she/

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/women_on_death_row/s01/e05

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/mother-sandi-nieves-in-a-family-photo-with-her-son-and-four-news-photo/569159055

https://groups.google.com/d/topic/alt.true-crime/psQH1FXuaXwhttps://murderdb.com/sandi-nieves-murders-4-children/?amp=1

https://abc7.com/death-sentenced-reversed-santa-clarita-woman-sandi-dawn-nieves-children-murdered/10575971/

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-may-18-me-31278-story.html

https://mycrimelibrary.com/sandi-nieves-women-on-death-row/