Siblings LINDSEY and MARIAN TAQUE-VALLE - 1 and 5 yo/ Accused: Lorna Valle (Mother) - Los Angeles CA

LOS ANGELES -- A mother is suspected of drowning her 1-year-old
daughter and trying to drown the girl's 5-year-old sister, leaving that
child hospitalized in grave condition, authorities say.


Lorna Valle was booked Wednesday night for murder and attempted
murder and was being held on $1.5 million bail, Los Angeles police said.

The father of the children told police he found his wife
trying to drown the girls in a bathtub in their South Los Angeles home
after he returned from a grocery store, police Cmdr. Andrew Smith told
the Los Angeles Times.


"The father stopped the mother," he said.


Firefighters answering a 911 call found the girls unconscious and not
breathing in a converted garage behind a main house. They were in a
bathtub and had no pulses, fire department spokesman Erik Scott said.


They were given cardiopulmonary resuscitation and taken to a hospital, he said.


Doctors worked on both girls for two hours, but the 1-year-old
Lindsay Taque died and the 5-year-old was transferred to another
hospital in critical but stable condition, said Katreena Salgado,
spokeswoman for California Hospital Medical Center. Los Angeles police
later described her condition as grave.


Valle was taken into custody "because we believe she is responsible for this," Smith said.


Neighbors told the Times the family kept to themselves.



Valle seemed troubled "like she was disturbed," neighbor Jennifer Houston, 37, said.


"She stays in the house," said Judy McCann, who has lived on the street for about 30 years. "She never comes out."


A neighbor, Dina Cevallos, said she heard the father screaming.


"I asked him what happened. What happened?" she told KABC-TV. "And he
said, `you know, days ago (the mother) was in depression and I told her
to go to a doctor and do something and she didn't want to do it.'"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/16/lorna-valle-arrested-for-_n_1282180.html

A mother already charged with drowning her 1-year-old daughter will face an additional murder charge over the death of a 5-year-old sibling, authorities said Thursday.

Prosecutors expect to file an amended criminal complaint containing the second murder charge before the scheduled arraignment of Lorna Valle on Friday, Los Angeles County district attorney’s spokeswoman Jane Robison said.

Valle’s daughter, 5-year-old Marian Taque Valle, was declared brain dead on Sunday. She was removed from life support and her organs were harvested on Wednesday. An autopsy was planned.

http://articles.boston.com/2012-02-23/news/31091932_1_murder-charge-parking-garage-murder-and-child-abuse