REVEALED: Mom, 30, who 'killed her three children under age 5 struggled with postpartum depression and self-medicated with marijuana' as father says he repeatedly warned LAPD and CPS she was a danger
A mother who allegedly killed her three young children struggled with postpartum depression and talked about suicide, according to the children's father, who said he pleaded with police and child services to remove them from her home.
Liliana Carrillo, 30, was arrested on Saturday hours after police said she killed her children three-year-old Joanna, two-year-old Terry and six-month-old Sierra, at her apartment in Los Angeles.
The children's grandmother discovered the grisly scene that morning and Carrillo fled the home in a stolen car, sparking an hours-long manhunt that ended with her being taken into custody in Ponderosa, the Los Angeles Police Department said.
Erick Denton, the children's father, revealed to the Los Angeles Times that in the months leading up to the killings he told a Tulare County judge in a petition that Carrillo struggled with postpartum depression for years.
He also said that she expressed suicidal ideations and would self-medicate with marijuana. Denton noted in one petition that he believed Carrillo had 'lost touch with reality'.
Dr Teri Miller, Denton's cousin and an emergency room physician, also revealed that they both 'kept bringing up all the right red flags about her behavior,' adding that the 'system failed' Denton's children.
Liliana Carrillo, 30, who allegedly killed her three young kids struggled with postpartum depression and talked about suicide, according to the children's father, Erick Denton (all pictured) who said he pleaded with police and child services to remove them from her home
Carrillo (left and right) was arrested on Saturday hours after police said she killed her children three-year-old Joanna, two-year-old Terry and six-month-old Sierra, at her apartment in Los Angeles
Denton (pictured with his children) revealed that in the months leading up to the killings he told a Tulare County judge in a petition that Carrillo struggled with postpartum depression for years
Dr Teri Miller (pictured), Denton's cousin, also revealed that they both 'kept bringing up all the right red flags' about Carrillo's behavior'
Video courtesy of KTLA
'The judge in Porterville listened and read all the information, but everyone in LA kept pushing it off on someone else,' Miller told the Times.
Miller said that Denton had repeatedly contacted the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) because he felt that Carrillo needed help.
Denton told the Times that in February Carrillo accused him of participating in a pedophile ring in Porterville and allowing someone to molest one of their daughters.
Around February 26, Carrillo is said to have threatened to 'got to Mexico' with the kids. She also reportedly refused to share their whereabouts.
Miller said that Denton eventually received an emergency order granting him custody of the kids in March, but suggested that no one helped enforce it so the kids remained living with their mother and grandmother.
Denton and Miller told the Times that they went to speak with DCFS and notified the LAPD that Carrillo had taken the children and was hiding in LA.
A social worker is said to have made contact with Carrillo but was reportedly disinclined to view Carrillo as a threat despite pleas from Denton and Miller.
'The social worker talked to Erik and said, "I don’t believe Liliana will harm these children,"' Miller told the Times.
On March 12, Carrillo received the order to hand over all three children to Denton; however, she declined.
Denton (pictured with Carrillo and two of their children) said that he repeatedly contacted the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) because he felt that Carrillo needed help
Police were seen outside the apartment building where Carrillo allegedly killed her children on Saturday
Denton and Miller said they kept trying and at one point begged police to take her to a mental health facility, according to the Times.
But Miller says the 'system failed' Denton and his children when the youngsters were found dead by their grandmother who had returned home from work around 9.30am Saturday and found the children dead inside Carrillo's apartment in the Reseda neighborhood of Los Angeles.
A spokesperson from the LAPD said the department typically follows direction from DCFS when it comes to child custody matters, adding that if they needed help 'we would have been there'.
A DailyMail.com request for comment to DCFS was not immediately returned Tuesday morning.
Carrillo had apparently already fled the scene in her own car before ditching it for a stolen silver Toyota pickup truck in Bakersfield.
She was apprehended in a Tulare County after the LAPD received reports she was driving north on Interstate 5, a spokesperson for the LAPD confirmed to DailyMail.com.
Before her arrest LAPD Lt Raul Jovel had said that Carrillo was considered a suspect in the killings, but police hadn't ruled out other possible perpetrators. After her arrest the LAPD confirmed that Carrillo was the sole suspect.
Police said initial reports suggested the children had been stabbed to death, but no official cause of death has been released.
According to the Times, two of the children showed signs of being drowned, and all three had injuries that indicated they were bludgeoned.
Neighbors said they had assumed that the children's grandmother was their primary guardian after seeing them around the Reseda neighborhood.
Los Angeles police officers at the crime scene where the three children were killed in Reseda, California
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore exits an apartment complex as police investigate in Reseda
'At this point, she is a suspect in this incident but that doesn't exclude other people,' Jovel said.
He added: 'We're trying to figure out what ties she has up north.'
Lupe Cuevas, a neighbor of Carrillo and her children, told the San Bernardino Sun that she interacted with the three children and their grandmother during afternoon walks around the neighborhood.
One of the children, a girl, was drawn to her Chihuahua, Rosie, Cuevas told the newspaper.
'She wasn't shy. She was sweet,' Cuevas said. 'An angel shouldn't have to go that way.
'Those babies were such sweet little ones. It hurts.'
Loved ones set up a GoFundMe campaign to help Denton cover the costs of their funerals.
The campaign raised more than $35,000 as of Tuesday morning.
No comments