This undated photo provided by theUpland Police Department shows Tierra Ortega who has been booked for investigation of homicide, attempted homicide and child abuse resulting in death. The Southern California mother has been jailed in the death of her infant daughter and injuries suffered by her young son when he was allegedly dropped from a second-floor landing at her apartment building. (Upland Police Department via AP)
UPLAND, Calif. – The Latest on a California woman suspected of killing her baby and tossing her son off a balcony (all times local):
8 a.m.
A Southern California mother has been jailed in the death of her infant daughter and injuries suffered by her young son when he was allegedly dropped from a second-floor landing at her apartment building.
The Upland Police Department says 24-year-old Tierra Ortega was booked for investigation of homicide, attempted homicide and child abuse resulting in death.
Police say a neighbor saw the woman drop her 1½-year-old son off the landing Tuesday morning, and when officers arrived they saw the woman jump.
The infant girl was not breathing when officers found her inside an apartment. She died at a hospital.
Ortega suffered facial injuries when she jumped. Capt. Marcelo Blanco said Wednesday she was booked into jail after being medically cleared. A mug shot shows her face swollen and scraped.
The boy is hospitalized in stable condition with a broken foot and other minor injuries.
Blanco says the motive is not yet known.
Upland is a small city about an hour's drive east of Los Angeles.
___
10:20 p.m.
Police in a Los Angeles suburb are trying to find a motive after a mother apparently killed her infant daughter and dropped her son from a second-story landing.
Upland police say the 24-year-old woman then jumped herself after officers arrived Tuesday morning.
She and her 1 ½-year-old son are in stable condition. He suffered a broken foot.
A neighbor called 911 after hearing a child crying. Police Capt. Marcelo Blanco says that's when the mother dropped or threw her son.
Officers later searched the apartment and found a 7-month-old girl who wasn't breathing. She died at a hospital.
Blanco says the woman is suspected of killing the girl and will be booked for investigation of murder.
But investigators still don't know what sparked the tragedy.
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
