Cops: Mother Said Teen Helped Her Kill 3 Kids

LAPD says 16-year-old is now in custody
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted May 9, 2022 9:20 AM CDT
Updated May 10, 2022 4:46 PM CDT
Mom Arrested After 3 Kids Found Dead in Calif. Home
Police say three children were found dead at this Los Angeles home over the weekend and their mother and a teenager were arrested in the killings.   (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Update: A mother accused of killing her three children over Mother's Day weekend has told police a 16-year-old helped her carry out the murders, the LAPD says. Angela Flores, 38, was booked on suspicion of three counts of murder Sunday after the bodies of the children—8-year-old twin boys and a 12-year-old girl—were found in her San Fernando Valley home, KTLA reports. Police say the 16-year-old was arrested Monday on suspicion of one count of murder and is being held without bail at a juvenile facility. Police haven't said how the three children died, NBC Los Angeles reports. Flores was seen acting erratically, screaming and holding a Bible, on Saturday night. Our original story from Monday follows:

Three children were found dead on Mother's Day in a San Fernando Valley home, and their mother has been arrested. Per FOX 11, the LAPD responded to a 911 call about an assault with a deadly weapon around 7:40am Sunday at the residence on Victory Boulevard, straddling West Hills and Woodland Hills, and when they arrived, they found the three children unresponsive inside the home. Paramedics rushed to the scene and pronounced them dead, saying they'd been so for several hours. An LAPD spokesperson identified them as 8-year-old twin boys and a 12-year-old girl, per the Orange County Register. Their cause of death hasn't been disclosed.

One neighbor tells the paper that the night before, the children's mother was seen wandering around outside, "talking incoherently," while another neighbor tells the Los Angeles Times that she heard the mother screaming around 10:30pm, "My family is abusing me!" That neighbor says she then saw the mother wander into another yard, light some candles, and open up a Bible. Police were called, and witnesses say she was detained and taken away on a stretcher by paramedics, while yelling, "Where's my Bible?"

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It's not entirely clear what happened between that incident and when the children's bodies were found, or if the children had been killed before or after the mother was detained. However, police say there are no other suspects at the moment. The LAPD confirms that another child, who wasn't injured, ran to a neighbor's house. FOX 11 notes the mother was placed into police custody after undergoing a mental evaluation at a local hospital, though she hadn't been charged as of Sunday night. The investigation is ongoing. (More child death stories.)

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