2 Plead Innocent in Slayings of Couple

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. —  A man and woman pleaded innocent Wednesday to two counts each of murder with special circumstances in the Dec. 14 slayings of a Novato couple.

Yolanda Segura, 25, who served as nanny to the couple’s baby, and her boyfriend, Zohelin Diaz, also 25, entered pleas through interpreters in Marin County Municipal Court. A preliminary hearing was set for April 5.

Deputy Public Defender Gaile O’Connor agreed to the three-month delay because the case was “massive and complicated.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Barry Bordon said his office is considering whether to seek the death penalty for the suspects, Guatemalan nationals who are in this country illegally.

Segura and Diaz were arrested Dec. 22 at a Daly City motel after a clerk recognized photos of the suspects shown on television. They remain in county jail without bail.

The motive for the murders of William and Tasia Stephens remains unknown. The Stephenses, who lived in a large hilltop home with their adopted baby, Travis, were shot to death in their beds as the infant slept in a nearby crib.

The baby’s natural mother on Tuesday was awarded conditional custody of the 9-month-old baby since the adoption had not been legally completed. The mother, Tracy Medeiros, 19, of Billerica, Mass., planned to fly home with her son today.