LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Liliana Carrillo, 30, was charged Monday with three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of her young children in Reseda , the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. Liliana Carrillo appears April 14 in a Bakersfield courtroom on carjacking charges. (Credit: CBS) “Our hearts go out to the family of these children who are coping with this tremendous loss,” District Attorney Gascón said in a release. “My office has reached out to the survivors to offer trauma-informed services during these incredibly difficult times.” READ MORE: Walter Mondale, Former Vice President, Has Died At Age 93 According to the D.A.’s Office, Carrillo is accused of killing 3-year-old Joanna, 2-year-old Terry and 6-month-old Sierra April 10 at an apartment in Reseda before fleeing the scene and being taken into custody in Tulare County. She appeared last week in a Bakersfield courtroom where she plead not guilty to carjacking charges . READ MORE: Hester Ford, The Oldest Living American, Has Died According to court records, Carrillo and the children’s father, Erik Denton, were apparently in the middle of a custody battle . Carrillo is facing three counts of murder with an allegation of using a knife as a deadly and dangerous weapon as to her youngest child, the D.A.’s office said. The case remains under investigation be the Los Angeles Police Department’s Juvenile Division and is being prosecuted by the Family Violence Division, the D.A.’s office said. MORE NEWS: Garcetti Proposes Nearly $1B To Battle LA Homelessness Crisis Carrillo’s arraignment has not yet been scheduled. ...
Murder charges
Suspect Charged in Shooting Death of Three-Year-Old Connecticut Boy
A 19-year-old suspect was charged with murder on Monday in connection with the shooting death of a three-year-old boy in Connecticut. “Hartford police said they arrested city resident Jaziah Smith for the killing of Randell Jones in a drive-by shooting on April 10. It wasn’t clear if Smith has a lawyer who could respond to the allegations,” the Associated Press (AP) reported . Officers said the child was inside a parked vehicle with his mother, additional relatives, and a male passenger when another car pulled up next to them and a person opened fire. “Authorities said the man in the car with Randell was the intended target. Randell’s mother drove him to a hospital, where he died, officials said. No one else was shot,” the report stated. According to Fox 61, another shooting occurred while officers investigated the initial incident. “Ja’Mari Preston, a 16-year-old from New Britain was also shot and killed behind a home on Magnolia Street that day, just hours after Jones was shot and only several streets away,” the outlet stated. Officers said as the investigation progressed they believed the shooting incidents were related. “After a week-long investigation, police said detectives assigned to the Major Crimes Division were able to identify the shooter in Jones’ homicide and applied for an arrest warrant,” the report continued, adding authorities took Smith into custody without incident on Monday. A judge set his bond at $1.75 million. Court records reportedly showed Smith was charged in 2020 for allegedly carrying a pistol without a permit and trespassing. He later posted a $75,000 bail and the case is pending, the AP article read. The investigation into both shootings is ongoing and Hartford police have asked citizens with additional information to contact the department. “Our whole city’s heart breaks for the families of this little boy and this young man. These are crimes that wound our entire community.” Mayor Luke Bronin ...
US Jury Hears Conflicting Arguments in Trial of Officer Charged with Killing George Floyd
WASHINGTON - A U.S. jury in a Minnesota courtroom Monday heard sharply different claims of how George Floyd, a Black man, died last year. A prosecutor accused former police officer Derek Chauvin of murdering Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. A defense attorney contended that Floyd died partly from drug use. Prosecutor Steve Schleicher summed up the case against Chauvin, 45, the white police officer who held down the handcuffed, 46-year-old Floyd, as he lay prone on a city street and gasped — 27 times, according to videos of his arrest — that he could not breathe. “He was trapped … a knee to his neck,” Schleicher said, with Chauvin’s weight on him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. “George Floyd was not a threat to anyone,” Schleicher said. “All that was required was some compassion, and he got none.” But defense attorney Eric Nelson, in more than 2½ hours of arguments before the racially diverse 12-member jury, contended that Chauvin followed his police training in restraining Floyd on the pavement of a Minneapolis city street after the suspect initially resisted police efforts to put him into a squad car. “No crime was committed if it was an authorized use of force,” Nelson argued. “The state has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” the legal standard for a conviction, the defense attorney concluded as he asked the jurors to acquit Chauvin of murder and manslaughter charges. The defense lawyer contended that rather than treating Floyd poorly, Chauvin told him to relax while he was on the ground and called for an emergency medical crew, although it arrived after Floyd had lost consciousness. Nelson dismissed the prosecution’s claim that Chauvin asphyxiated Floyd, saying that Floyd’s death was caused at least partly by his drug use and a sudden heart failure. WATCH: Video report on Derek Chauvin trial Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to ...
California Police Credit Podcast with Helping Solve 25-Year-Old Cold Case
A podcast focusing on the 1996 disappearance of college freshman Kristin Smart has helped California police make arrests in the 25-year-old cold case. Law enforcement officials credit the Your Own Backyard podcast with bringing “valuable” evidence forward that led to murder charges against the long-time suspect in Smart’s disappearance. Chris Lambert, the host of the Your Own Backyard podcast was credited by San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson as he announced arrests in the case, according to a report by Associated Press. Sheriff Parkinson added that Lambert helped draw worldwide attention to the case, and brought forward valuable witnesses. The podcast located overlooked or reluctant witnesses who hadn’t spoken with police. Some witnesses also opened up to Lambert, who encouraged them to contact investigators with relevant information. Soon after that, deputies began reaching out to Lambert to connect them with other people he interviewed. “What Chris did with the podcast was put it out nationally to bring in new information,” Parkinson said. “It did produce some information that I believe was valuable.” Lambert, who is 33, was just eight years old when Smart disappeared a short drive from his home in the small town of Orcutt, California, about 140 miles northwest of Los Angeles. He was ultimately inspired to create the podcast and start investigating the case after driving past a billboard featuring a photo of Smart many times. “I thought I’d give it a shot and see if I could get a few people talking,” Lambert said. “All I have to do is get over my shyness and start calling these people out of the blue and start asking really personal questions.” Now, prosecutors say that longtime suspect Paul Flores, now 44, has been charged with murder alleging that he killed Smart while trying to rape her in his dorm room at California Polytechnic State University campus in San Luis Obispo. Flores had reportedly been walking an intoxicated ...
US Jury Starts Deliberations in Trial of Officer Charged with Killing George Floyd
WASHINGTON - A U.S. jury in a Minnesota courtroom Monday heard sharply different claims of how George Floyd, a Black man, died last year, then began deliberations in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing Floyd in one of the country’s highest profile cases in recent years. A prosecutor accused Chauvin of killing Floyd by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. A defense attorney contended that Floyd died partly from drug use and that Chauvin was following his police training in the way he arrested Floyd last May on a Minneapolis street. Prosecutor Steve Schleicher summed up the case against Chauvin, 45, the white police officer who held down the handcuffed, 46-year-old Floyd, as he lay prone on a city street and gasped — 27 times, according to videos of his arrest — that he could not breathe. “He was trapped … a knee to his neck,” Schleicher said, with Chauvin’s weight on him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. “George Floyd was not a threat to anyone,” Schleicher said. “All that was required was some compassion, and he got none.” But defense attorney Eric Nelson, in more than 2½ hours of arguments before the racially diverse 12-member jury, contended that Chauvin followed his police training in restraining Floyd on the pavement of a Minneapolis city street after the suspect initially resisted police efforts to put him into a squad car. “No crime was committed if it was an authorized use of force,” Nelson argued. “The state has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” the legal standard for a conviction, the defense attorney concluded as he asked the jurors to acquit Chauvin of murder and manslaughter charges. The defense lawyer contended that rather than treating Floyd poorly, Chauvin told him to relax while he was on the ground and called for an emergency medical crew, although it arrived after Floyd had lost consciousness. Nelson dismissed the prosecution’s claim that Chauvin asphyxiated ...
