Report: Mother admits to drowning her three children

A woman suspected in the deaths of her three young children in Reseda in Southern California told a reporter from KGET in Bakersfield in a TV interview she drowned the children.

Liliana Carrillo, 30, is in a Kern County jail after she was arrested in the Ponderosa area. She’s accused of fleeing after killing her three children on Saturday.

She was arraigned in Kern County court and pleaded not guilty to charges involving an alleged carjacking she committed in Kern County as she fled.

Liliana Carrillo, 30, is being held at the Kern County jail after authorities in Tulare County arrested her for an alleged carjacking she committed as she fled north from Los Angeles on Saturday April 3. That morning, the children were found dead by their grandmother at their Reseda apartment.

“I drowned them,” Carrillo said in the KGET interview.

Carrillo claimed in the interview she killed the children, Joanna, 3; Terry, 2; and Sierra, 6 months, because she didn’t want them to be abused.

The children’s father Erik Denton, who lives in Porterville, sought custody of the children. On March 12, Carrillo was granted a temporary restraining order against Denton in a Los Angeles County Court.

Denton wrote in an emergency order to gain custody of the children Carrillo’s mental condition began to deteriorate after Terry’s birth and she was showing signs of postpartum depression.

“I wish my kids were alive, yes,” Carrillo said in the KGET interview. “Do I wish that I didn’t have to do that, yes.” But she continued her claim she didn’t want her children to be abused.

When asked to definitively if she killed her children, Carrillo said “I did” in the interview.

Gabriela Gomeznaranjo, godmother to one of the children, told the LA Daily News she never suspected Carrillo or her children were being abused and that the family appeared to be close.

But Gomez-naranjo also told the LA Daily news after Terry was born, Carrillo began to post on social media numerous times she was experiencing post-part depression.

According to court records, Denton said he quit his job in December 2019 to care for the children as Carrillo repeatedly expressed regret for having the kids and said she wanted to kill herself.

Denton also wrote in court records Carrillo committed to therapy,

but abruptly quit, rerefused to take prescribed psychiatric medicine and used marijuana heavily.

“Her condition has worsened,” Denton wrote. “She is not taking care of herself and has lost touch with reality. She is extremely paranoid and acts impulsively and erratically.”

Denton also wrote Carrillo said she believed she was responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and that Porterville is a “giant sex trafficking ring.” In addition, Denton wrote Carrillo accused him of being a part of a pedophile ring.

According to court records, Carrillo feared she was being followed and wanted to take the children and flee to Mexico to be with family there.

Denton also said Carrillo suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder due to childhood abuse. Denton has said he told Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services Carrillo posted a danger to her children and herself, but nothing was done.

Carrillo has yet to be charged in the deaths of the children as that incident is still being investigated.