A mother in South Los Angeles has been arrested for the murder of one of her daughters and attempted murder of another.
Police say 32-year-old Lorna Valle tried to drown her 1- and 5-year-old daughters in a baby bathtub.
A family member of Valle’s told KTLA the depressed mother, who is originally from Guatemala, wanted to go back to her native country. Seeing her depressive state, her husband took her to the hospital for psychological help, but was turned away due to Valle being an undocumented immigrant..
Wednesday morning, the girls’ father returned home from the grocery store to find Valle drowning the girls in a baby bathtub. The girls were taken to California Medical Center in grave condition. One-year-old Lindsay Taque was pronounced dead at the hospital, while her older sister, Marian, was transferred to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Marian has since been upgraded from critical condition to serious but stable condition.
Valle is currently on a three-day psychiatric hold at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, with police saying her bail has already been set at $1.5 million.
