Mother arrested after toddler, baby found dead in car seats
SUPERIOR, Ariz. -- A 20-year-old mother has been arrested after a baby and a toddler were found dead in car seats in a vehicle in a rural Arizona community Monday night, reports CBS affiliate KPHO.
Pinal County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Navideh Forghani says the children found in the vehicle at a home in the town of Superior were 2 years old and 10 months old. Forghani tells KPHO that 20-year-old Brittany Velasquez was arrested and is being charged with two counts of murder.
At around 11:15 p.m., detectives from the Pinal Sheriff's Office were called to assist the Superior Police Department after they found the bodies, the station reports.
Evidence of foul play was found at the scene, said Forghani. Autopsies will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
Superior is about 60 miles east of Phoenix.
The Pinal County Sheriff's office and Superior Police gave few details about the circumstances leading up to the children's deaths at a press briefing Tuesday, citing the ongoing investigation. Superior Police interim chief Christian Esterly said Velasquez told officers she found the children inside the car and took them inside the house to perform CPR.
Officers responded after Velasquez called 911. Officers found the children inside the house and attempted CPR, but they were dead, Esterly said.
Esterly described Superior as a small community. He said he knew Velasquez and her family, and said his officers had had previous concerns about the children's safety. He described an incident in January in which one of his officers responded to the home over a theft report, but became concerned when he learned Velasquez was allegedly leaving her children and expecting another family member to take care of them.
The officer called the state Department of Child Safety hotline to report the allegation, but Esterly said he didn't know what if anything state officials did to follow up on the report. The child welfare agency didn't immediately return a call and email from CBS News' Crimesider.
According to a police report obtained by CBS News that describes the January incident, Superior Police responded to the home Jan. 1 after Velasquez's grandmother reported that Velasquez had stolen her $3500 fur coat. The grandmother, Sally Velasquez, said that her granddaughter often left her children with her for days to visit her boyfriend in Tempe, sometimes leaving by jumping out a bedroom window.
Sally Velasquez said she had trouble walking and getting around the house and that her granddaughter wouldn't return her calls while she was gone.
Two days later, the officer called the state child welfare hotline to report that Brittany Velasquez would allegedly leave the children with Sally Velasquez, who was having difficulty caring for the children. Someone there told him she wouldn't be able to investigate until the grandmother said she is no longer willing to care for the children, according to the police report.
The officer said in the report he made contact with Brittany Velasquez, who admitted leaving her children in the care of her grandmother because she didn't have a babysitter near her work. He said he followed up with Sally Velasquez, who advised the fur coat had been returned and declined to aid in prosecution for the alleged theft.
Speaking Tuesday, Esterly said the incident would "probably" amount to a warning sign. He said he was frustrated by the apparent lack of intervention by the state agency, but couldn't speak for them.
He said the deaths have devastated the small community.
"This kind of thing doesn't happen around here," Esterly said. "It's a massive blow."
