Mother arrested as ‘sole suspect’ in deaths of 3 young children in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES (KTLA) — The mother of three children found dead Saturday morning in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles remains in custody hours after their bodies were found inside an apartment, authorities said.
Liliana Carrillo, 30, has been described by police as the “sole suspect” in the deaths of her children, who all appear be under the age of 5, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Their bodies were found inside an apartment in the 8000 block of Reseda Boulevard at 9:30 a.m., police said.
LAPD Lt. Raul Jovel told the Associated Press Carrillo was gone when the children’s grandmother came home from work and found their bodies in the apartment.
Around noon, Officer Rosario Cervantes told KTLA the children had been fatally stabbed. However, the department later issued a news release and series of tweets stating a cause of death and motive had yet to be determined.
Earlier, police described Carrillo as a person of interest and announced at 2:30 p.m. she had been taken into custody in the Ponderosa area of Tulare County. She allegedly committed a carjacking while remaining at large earlier.
The father of the children, Erik Denton, told KTLA that he shared custody of the children with Carillo. He identified the children as 3-year-old Terry, 2-year-old Joanna, and 6-month-old Sierra.
On Saturday evening, there was a growing memorial outside the apartment complex where the children were found fatally stabbed. A GoFundMe account has been launched to help the grieving family.
Police have said detectives are still working to determine a possible motive.
Anyone with information is urged by LAPD to call 213-486-6890 or email rhdtipline@lapd.online.
Check back for updates to this developing story.