A 16-year-old Los Banos girl was arrested Tuesday afternoon and charged with the June 20 stabbing death of Emily Lopez in Keyes.

The name of the girl, who was charged with homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, was not released due to her age. She is being held at Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall.

Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Raj Singh said the arrest was made by Los Banos Police.

“Other persons of interest are being sought concerning the stabbing investigation,” Singh told the Courier. “The investigation is still ongoing for the other fights that occurred.”

Detectives would not divulge details of what led to the stabbing since the investigation is ongoing.

Lopez, 20, was one of two women stabbed after a large fight broke out Friday evening at approximately 10:42 p.m. in the 5400 block of Jennie Avenue. Lopez died at the scene while the other victim sustained non-life threatening stab wounds and was able to be interviewed.

When Stanislaus County Sheriff’s deputies arrived they found several young people in the street and located the two stabbing victims. They began medical care on both victims until emergency medical personnel arrived.

Several others were reportedly injured from being punched, kicked and hit in the head with objects. They were all treated at the scene and refused an ambulance ride to the hospital.
“There were at least 15 that we had detained from the same house and then outside there was probably six or seven,” said Singh who arrived on scene and described things as “very chaotic.”

He said the party-goers were mostly teens to early 20’s.

“Where the victim was wasn’t directly in front of the (party) house,” said Singh. “It was a couple of houses down so I don’t know a lot of people in the house actually knew what was going on where the medical personnel were trying to provide care for the victims.”

Singh said some of those detained for interviews were “somewhat uncooperative” as deputies investigated how the melee began.

The Sheriff’s Department is seeking the cooperation of those who attended the party but were not involved in the fight and have recorded the incident on their cell phones. Those persons are urged to contact Sheriff’s Detective M. Wyatt at 209-525-7091 or submit anonymous tips to Stanislaus Area Crime Stoppers at 866-602-7463.

A GoFundMe account has been established by Carla Barajas, Emily’s sister, to help the Lopez family bury their daughter. The page, found at

https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-emilys-life-after-tragic-loss