ANJELEE SANCHEZ - 6 yo - Sonoma CA

The Sonoma woman who apparently killed her daughter and then herself
was described Saturday as a loner, but someone who doted on her child.
The sheriff’s office on Saturday was still withholding the names of the woman and child,
who is 6 years old.Marino identified the woman as Amy Beam, who grew up in Benicia.
He said she was in her late 20s or early 30s.Marino
went to their apartment Friday morning with the woman’s brother, Josh
Beam of Napa, after Amy Beam had not been to work in a week and no one
was able to reach her by telephone.“She was kind of a loner, stayed to herself,”
Marino said.She worked for Dr. Lee Schaller, a Sonoma oral surgeon, Marino said.
The bodies of the mother and child were found on the bed in the master
bedroom, where they may have been for a week, said sheriff’s Detective
Sgt. Tim Duke.There was no apparent cause of death.
Autopsies were being conducted this weekend, Duke said.Residents
of the apartment complex, just three blocks from the historic plaza,
said they saw the mother and girl, but only spoke to them in passing
and didn’t know their names.Most of the tenants keep to themselves in the complex.“I
would see her when I would pick up the mail and in the carport, the
next car to my truck is hers,” said resident Salvador Quintero. “You
see only her all the time. No friends, no boyfriends, no anything.”
"I am just shocked about this whole thing, I can’t get over it, her
whole world was around that little girl,” said Jerry Marino of Sonoma,
owner of the Casa de Sonoma apartment complex where the two lived.

Investigators believe a mother who was found dead along with her
6-year-old daughter fatally drugged the child before killing herself
with an overdose in an apparent murder-suicide, authorities said.

Autopsy results released Monday showed Amy Beam and her daughter
Anjelee Sanchez of Sonoma both died from an overdose.

Beam and
Sanchez were found lying next to each other in bed at their home on
Friday, Sonoma County Sheriff's Lt. Chris Spallino said. Investigators
said they had been dead for about four days.

Dozens of pills
were discovered near the bodies. Interviews with friends and notes left
behind by Beam led investigators to believe she killed Sanchez before
taking her own life, said Spallino. He would not elaborate on what the
notes said, or specify which drugs were found.

The results of toxicology tests are not expected for several weeks.

Four counselors from the Sonoma Valley school district helped children
deal with their grief at Prestwood Elementary School, where Anjelee was
a first-grade student.

"She was a wonderful little girl," Prestwood Principal Beth Wolk said. "She was a good student, a great reader."

This is the second time tragedy hit this school in less than three
months. Grace and Aiden Maloney, 5, and 8, and their parents, John and
Susan Maloney, died when their minivan was hit by a speeding driver in
November.

Amy Marie Beam was a single Sonoma mother who kept to herself but doted
on her 6-year-old daughter. For her to kill the little girl with an
overdose of pills before committing suicide by eating the drugs herself
is almost unthinkable, acquaintances said Tuesday.Investigators, however, believe that's what happened. The bodies of
Beam, 28, and her daughter, Anjelee Sanchez, were found side by side in
bed at their home on the 700 block of First Street West on Friday
morning, said Sonoma County sheriff's Lt. Chris Spallino.



The two had apparently been dead for up to four days, he said.
Detectives found notes and letters written by Beam that suggested that she intended to commit suicide, Spallino said.
Investigators also found dozens of pills and medications near the bodies, Spallino said. He did not specify what the drugs were.
"She was a beautiful little girl," said Beth Wolk, principal at
Prestwood Elementary School in Sonoma, where Anjelee was in the first
grade. "She was very bright and was learning to read. She was a role
model to the rest of the students because she was very helpful to them."
The school is still reeling from the Thanksgiving weekend crash
that killed two other students. Aiden Maloney, 8, his sister Gracie, 5,
and their parents, John and Susan Maloney, died when their car was
struck by a speeding motorist on Highway 37 east of Novato.
"The death of a child, whenever it happens, is heartbreakingly sad,"
said Wolk, who called the parents of Anjelee's 19 classmates over the
weekend. "We want to be there for the kids. We really all support each
other."
Beam and her daughter had lived at the Casa de Sonoma apartment
complex for three years, said owner Jerry Marino. Beam worked for a
Sonoma oral surgeon, he said.
"She was kind of a quiet person, but never did I ever see her
without her little Anjelee," Marino said. "Really, she lived for that
little girl."
Anjelee's room was decorated in pink, fitting for a little girl who
liked Hello Kitty, Marino said. The girl could frequently be seen
"skipping and singing," he said. "She was just a very cheerful little
girl."
Marino said Beam had weathered her share of family tragedies,
including the death of her parents. She had split with Anjelee's father
when the girl was 1, he said.
"I think she didn't want to leave Anjelee with anyone else," he
said. "I just think that she figured nobody could take care of her, and
she was going to take her with her."