LOS ANGELES (AP) – The woman arrested on suspicion of murdering her three young children in her Los Angeles apartment had been involved in a custody dispute with their father, according to a Sunday newspaper.
30-year-old Liliana Carrillo was arrested in Tulare County on Saturday after fleeing the horrific scene and leading law enforcement officers on a long-range hunt, authorities said.
The Los Angeles Times cites family law documents showing that on March 1, Eric Denton sought custody of the children – aged 3, 2 and 6 months.
Denton petitioned the court for a temporary emergency visit order on March 4, requesting an evaluation of Carrillo’s mental health, according to the paper. Orders were drawn up at a hearing on March 26. Another hearing on the matter was scheduled for April 14.
In response, Carrillo sought a temporary restraining order against Denton in Los Angeles County Superior Court on March 12, documents show.
In a short interview with the TimesDenton confirmed that he was the father of the three children – two girls and a boy – and said he was in a custody battle with Carrillo after she began to behave mentally unstable.
Denton said he tried to get local authorities to intervene, but “in LA they didn’t help. The LAPD wouldn’t get involved. He said Carrillo would hand the children over to him on Sunday.
The children’s grandmother returned from work Saturday morning and found the bodies and mother missing, Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant Raul Jovel said.
Police said initial reports suggested the children had been stabbed to death, but no official cause of death has been released.
Los Angeles Police Department initially received reports that Carrillo was driving her car and heading north on Interstate 5 when she got into a fight in the Bakersfield area. She got out of her car and carjacked another vehicle, Jovel said.
Carrillo was detained in the Ponderosa area of Tulare County, about 100 miles north of Bakersfield, police said.