TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) — A grandmother arrived at a
dilapidated home on a busy Southern California street to visit her
daughter and three grandchildren, only to find the girls’ small,
blood-covered bodies neatly arranged on a bed.
Neighbors and
authorities say the woman frantically ran outside, throwing a bloody
knife to the ground and told the girls’ father, who was working on a
car, that his wife had gone crazy and killed all the kids. Then she
called 911.
"’Oh my God, oh my God,’" he screamed after learning
his daughters were dead, said next-door neighbor Veronica Ruiz, who
watched the aftermath unfold.
Authorities said 30-year-old Carol
Coronado remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday after being
taken from the grisly scene Tuesday afternoon covered in blood and
naked under a blanket, with multiple self-inflicted stab and slice
wounds.
She’s expected to be arrested on suspicion of murder in
the death of her daughters, who were 2 years, 16 months and 2 months
old, after she is released from the hospital, Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Coleman said.
"The babies were on the bed,"
Coleman said. "And not in a haphazard fashion, they were placed on the
bed, so how and where they were killed, we’re going to have to figure
that out."
Investigators were reviewing Coronado’s medical records
and her service in the military. She joined the Army after high school
but only spent a few months in the service before being released due to
an injury, Coleman said.
Multiple knives were taken from the
scene, including the knife the grandmother threw on the ground, which
was believed to be the one used to stab the girls to death.
Authorities
said the grandmother, whose name was not released, had come to the home
near Torrance to visit after receiving a call from her daughter.
Coleman said detectives believe the stabbings likely occurred just
before the grandmother arrived.
Coleman said investigators don’t
believe there were prior calls for deputies to visit the home, but he
stressed that it was still early in the investigation.
On
Wednesday, the home in the working class neighborhood was quiet except
for reporters and photographers who crowded the fenced-off area to get a
look at a yard piled high with junk and a small residence that appeared
to be a converted garage or shed, with a red and green "Seasons
Greetings" sign hanging from it.
Ruiz’s son, 15-year-old Jesus Renteria, said the grandmother told him and his mother that Coronado was
overwhelmed.