A Reseda woman who recently confessed to drowning her three young children was charged Monday with murder in their deaths, prosecutors said.
Liliana Carrillo, 30, is also accused of using a knife against her youngest child, 6-month-old Sierra, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Authorities have yet to release official causes of death for Sierra or the two other children, 3-year-old Joanna and 2-year-old Terry. They were found dead April 10 by their maternal grandmother in their Reseda apartment.
Carrillo’s arraignment has yet to be scheduled, as she’s currently incarcerated in Kern County to face charges in a carjacking case related to her alleged escape. Inmate records show she’s schedule to appear in court in Bakersfield Wednesday.
In a shocking jailhouse interview last week, Carrillo told a reporter at KTLA sister station KGET in Bakersfield the she drowned the kids to keep them away from their father, with whom she was embroiled in a bitter custody battle.
“Eric [Denton, the children’s father,] and his friends had basically told me throughout my relationship about what would happen, and everything was happening just as they were saying it,” Carrillo said. “I wasn’t about to hand my children off to be further abused.”
When asked if she regretted her decision to kill the children, Carrillo said she did wish her kids were alive but stood by her choice.
“Yes, I do I wish that I didn’t have to do that,” she said. “But I prefer them not being tortured and abused on a regular basis for the rest of their life.”
Court documents obtained by the Associated Press reveal Denton was fighting for full custody of the children, saying he was fearful for their safety in their mother’s care and that Carrillo was delusional.
In a restraining order filed in response, Carrillo alleged Denton was an alcoholic and may have sexually abused their eldest child.
Denton’s court filings also tell of Carrillo’s struggle with post-partum depression following the birth of their middle child.
In recent Facebook posts, she wrote about “random invasive feelings of despair and pain” and said she was “hating being a parent” while also echoing QAnon conspiracies, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The custody case remained unresolved when the children were killed.
Officials in L.A. are now working to have Carrillo transported from Kern County, where she pleaded not guilty to four felony counts of carjacking, attempted carjacking and auto theft.
After she fled the scene of the killings, Kern County prosecutors allege Carrillo crashed a car near Bakersfield, carjacked a truck from someone who stopped to help her, and tried to steal another truck before she was arrested Saturday afternoon in the San Joaquin County community of Ponderosa.