Gilroy mom charged with murder in toddler daughter’s tub drowning

GILROY >> A woman was charged with murder Wednesday after she allegedly drowned her 2-yearold daughter in a bathtub over the weekend and then called police to report what she had just done, saying she “just snapped,” authorities said.

Marcie Godoy Montelongo, 35, who recently returned to her hometown of Gilroy, also has been charged with assault likely to produce great bodily injury resulting in death in the killing of Mackenzie Montelongo on Sunday.

Montelongo was arraigned Wednesday in a San Jose courtroom, where she did not enter a plea and was assigned to be represented by the Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office. She was returned to the Santa Clara County Main Jail, where she is being held without bail.

“People want to know why this mother killed her own child. It’s something we might never know the answer to, but it’s something we’ll be looking into,” Deputy District Attorney Alaleh Kianerci said.

Relatives told this news organization that Montelongo manages a lifelong disability that renders her physically and mentally “slower” than other people, which made her a target for psychological abuse by family members.

Kianerci said that would be evaluated as the case proceeds through the court.

“Obviously, her mental competency and any mental health concerns are something we’ll be looking into and that will be litigated in the future,” she said. “All I can say is this is a horrific crime, and we’ll work to hold her criminally liable and get justice for her 2-year-old.”

According to a Gilroy police statement submitted to prosecutors, the defendant called emergency dispatchers around 11:30 a.m. Sunday and said she had drowned her daughter at her Westwood Drive apartment about an hour before.

Gilroy police officers went to her apartment in the 7900 block of Westwood Drive and found the girl facedown and unresponsive in a bathtub filled with water. Mackenzie was rushed to Saint Louise Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Montelongo was not home when she made the call, police said. An officer found Montelongo nearly a mile away at a gas station at Miller Avenue and First Street. She reportedly confessed to the killing to both dispatchers and the police officer.

“When asked why she had left her home, suspect said she was attempting to flee but had decided to call the police to make the notification,” according to the police statement. “Suspect apologized to the dispatcher for her actions and said she ‘just snapped’ as Mackenzie was giving her ‘a hard time.’ ”

Word of Mackenzie’s death reached relatives just days after a family reunion in La Union, New Mexico, where her mother had talked about moving to live near her aunt, Dolores Montelongo, and her cousins.

The defendant’s parents and only brother have died in recent years.

“When I found out, I just couldn’t control myself, because I’d been with the baby just a few days ago,” Dolores Montelongo said, adding that she considered her niece to be a dedicated and protective mom.

Marcie Montelongo moved to her Gilroy neighborhood in June from her father’s old home in Hollister, according to relatives. She left Gilroy as a teenager and met Mackenzie’s father while living out of state, and was raising the girl as a single mother, relatives said.

She is scheduled to return to court Jan. 9.