A 30-year-old Torrance-area mother pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Monday in the stabbing death of her three daughters, who ranged in age from 2 months to 2 1/2 years.

The children were found in a pool of blood May 20 in the home the woman shared with her husband in an unincorporated area between Torrance and Carson.

Carol Coronado was naked and holding a knife when sheriff’s deputies entered the residence, investigators said at the time.

Coronado’s mother found the children at the West 223rd Street home, where she was allegedly attacked by Coronado. The girls were identified by their godfather as Sophia, who was nearly 3, Yazmine, who was 1, and Xenia, who was about 2 months old.

Coronado, 30, was indicted by a criminal grand jury on Sept. 22 on three counts of capital murder and one count of attempted murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. She pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity in Compton Superior Court on Monday, the DA’s office stated.

The indictment, unsealed at the hearing, includes a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders and a special allegation that the defendant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, in the commission of the crime.

Coronado was expected to return to court Oct. 17.

She had entered an earlier not guilty plea in May. The newer indictment supersedes that case, according to the DA’s office.