Authorities in Merced County, in the Central Valley of California, do not rule out the depression of Patricia Ortiz, 31, as a factor that contributed to her deciding to murder her three children: Anna Ortiz Lara, 8, Matteo, 5, and Alexa, 3.
Although the investigations continue and the causes and details of the crime that occurred on Wednesday have not yet been revealed, Ortiz's neighbors in the Le Grand Apartments complex assure that she
had been depressed since last summer
, when she separated from her husband.
He, in fact, was the one who found the children dead in his house and, according to María Elena Alcázar, a neighbor and friend of the family, he came out screaming:
"In my house my children... my children are dead. Help me, help me!".
[A friend of the woman who killed her children in California speaks]
Anna, Matteo and Alexa were 8, 5 and 3 years old, respectively.
Capture via Telemundo News
"It was depression, you could tell she was very sad. She had a sad look," another neighbor and friend of Ortiz, who did not want to give her name or show her face, explained to Noticias Telemundo.
It was she who found the mother, who was still alive in the bathroom, although with self-inflicted wounds because she tried to commit suicide.
"I ask everyone to be empathetic, not to judge her.
She needed a lot of help,"
he said.
"It made me very sad."
Neighbors of Le Grand do not explain how this Latin mother murdered her three children
Jan. 14, 202202:01
Ortiz, who is facing three counts of homicide, was taken to the hospital the day of the incident and now remains
in custody at a
county mental health facility.
Daryl Allen, public information officer for the Merced County Sheriff's Department, said the community is shocked because it is "very hard" to come across such a scene.
"He was a very cute boy"
María, the mother of one of Anna's classmates at school, told Noticias Telemundo that the girl's death "greatly affected" her son, because she was one of her "little friends."
Three children ages 8, 5 and 3 were killed by their own mother in California
Jan. 14, 202201:41
"[This] was a surprise, a very sad impact. I have children and, I don't know, it made me very sad," said Luz Valencia, another resident of the county, who came to put
offerings on the altar that the neighbors set up in
front of to the set of departments, where there are candles, toys and balloons in memory of the three minors.
Amy Martínez, another resident, said that she saw Mateo one day before his death: "I close my eyes and I see him, where he said goodbye to me... He was a very cute boy."
[Nobody explains how this mother murdered her three children]
Referring to Ortiz's depression, Martinez added: "If one had known, I
would have talked to her
."