A mother could face capital punishment if convicted in the deaths of her twin 10-month-old sons, who she’s accused of drowning in a motel in Tulare last week, prosecutors said Monday.
Heather Langdon, 37, faces two counts each of first-degree murder and assault on a child causing death, with a special circumstance allegation that she committed multiple murders, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The infants were pronounced dead at a hospital after being found not breathing last Thursday at a small motel in the Central Valley town, which sits directly between Fresno and Bakersfield.
The previous day, police officers had helped arrange for Langdon and her children to spend the night at the Virginia Motor Lodge Motel on K Street after she was told she could no longer remain at a nearby women’s shelter because she was causing a disturbance, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors said Langdon is a resident of Goshen, a small community about 12 miles north of Tulare along Highway 99.
The Visalia Times-Delta identified the victims as Maddox and Mason Murguia and said they were found under water in a motel room.
“We are going to miss seeing these two brothers grow and express their uniqueness, which was already shining through,” Langdon’s cousin Shannon Livick wrote in a statement to the newspaper. “Mason had the most beautiful blue eyes and he was always curious. Maddox had the darkest brown eyes which were full of a calm wisdom.”
A GoFundMe campaign was set up to raise money for the boys’ memorial service, but as of Monday had stopped accepting money at the request of their father, who has not been publicly identified.
Langdon also has three other children of unknown ages, according to the Times-Delta.
If convicted as charged, she could face a potential sentence of life without the possibility of parole and would be eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors said.
She was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, the DA’s office said.
