A California mom involved in a heated custody battle over her three children has been arrested after those three children were found stabbed to death.
Liliana Carrillo was arrested on April 11 in Tulare County after the bodies of her three children — 3-year-old Joanna, 2-year-old Terry, and 6-month-old Sierra — were found dead in an apartment complex nearly four hours south. Police believe she fled the scene of the crime after she killed her three children, who were due to be picked up by their father around the time they were killed.
The children's grandmother discovered their bodies and called police, who were shaken by what they saw. The children's father, Erik Denton, had been petitioning for emergency custody, citing Carrillo's mental health, and was due in court for another hearing on April 14.
Liliana Carrillo has been arrested and is the sole suspect in the deaths of her three children. The 30-year-old mom was in the midst of a heated custody dispute with the children's father, Erik Denton. Denton was in the process of trying to get custody of the children.
Court documents show that Denton requested a temporary emergency visitation order from a Los Angeles county court on March 4. He asked for a mental health evaluation of Carrillo, per CBS News.
Carrillo sought a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Denton on March 12, with orders drawn up at a March 26 hearing. Another hearing in the case was scheduled for April 14.
The children were supposed to be handed off to Denton on Sunday. Instead, their grandmother found their bodies. The children were reported to have been stabbed to death, though there's been no official manner of death revealed. Carrillo was nowhere to be found. The scene was so gruesome that some of the first responders are seeking counseling.
Police initially received reports that Carrillo was driving her car and heading north on Interstate 5. After an altercation, she reportedly carjacked another vehicle before driving away.
An old blog of Carrillo's was discovered online in which she denounced people who got joy from hurting others. "What kind of sick pleasure or comfort do people seek in return from hurting someone else? Why would you have to feast on another's sorrow in order to gain some kind of release?" she asked.
"If they had a problem they could fight me, but no one ever did."
"Liliana was very sick, and this is not — she was not herself, and it’s been going on for several months that she has been unwell," Denton's cousin, Teri Miller, told KTTV.
It's unclear what mental health challenges Carrillo was struggling with. She reportedly rejected a few different offers to get help.
A family friend of Denton's has set up a GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses. So far, it's raised close to $30,000. That makes what happens next a bit easier, but nothing can heal the heartbreak of this loss for the "devastated" dad.
