A California mother suspected of murdering her three kids then going on a carjacking spree has confessed to killing them in a jailhouse interview, saying she drowned them 'as softly as she could'.
Liliana Carrillo, 30, told KGET-TV that she drowned her kids Joanna, three, Terry, two and Sierra, six-months-old, claiming she wanted to protect them from their father, who she believes is a human trafficker and would have 'abused them'.
'I drowned them. I did it as softly, I don’t know how to explain it .I didn´t want them to be further abused,' said Carrillo, who was interviewed at the Lerdo Pre-Trial Facility in Kern County.
'I promised them when they were born that I was going to protect them. I hugged them and I kissed them and I was apologizing the whole time,' she said. 'I loved my kids.'
'I wish my kids were alive, yes,' she said. 'Do I wish that I didn´t have to do that? Yes. But I prefer them not being tortured and abused on a regular basis for for the rest of their lives.'
She didn't say how she drowned them.
The three kids were found inside the family's apartment by their maternal grandmother on Saturday. Their mother had vanished.
She was later arrested on suspicion of carjacking, having stolen a truck. She said in her interview that she wanted to drive off of a cliff and kill herself.
Carrillo still seemed to be under the illusion she was protecting the children when she spoke out from jail.
Liliana Carrillo, 30, told KGET-TV that she drowned her kids Joanna, three, Terry, two and Sierra, six-months-old, claiming she wanted to protect them from their father, who she believes is a human trafficker and would have 'abused them'.
Erik Denton, left, is pictured with his three children who were allegedly stabbed to death in their apartment by their mother Liliana Carrillo, right, in Reseda, Los Angeles on April 10
'I wish my kids were alive, yes. Do I wish I didn’t have to do that, yes? But I prefer them not being tortured and abused on a regular basis for the rest of their life.'
Carrillo hasn' been charged with the deaths of her children in Los Angeles County pending further investigation.
Police haven´t disclosed a motive for the killings. But court filings showed there was a bitter custody dispute between Carrillo and the children´s father, Erik Denton.
The children had been staying with Carrillo.
Fearful for their safety, Denton petitioned a court for custody March 1, alleging that Carrillo was delusional and had taken the kids and refused to tell him where they were. Carrillo, in turn, filed a restraining order against him and claimed Denton was an alcoholic who may have sexually abused their eldest child.
Denton´s court filings tell of Carrillo´s post-partum depression following the birth of their middle child. She began therapy but quit. She self-medicated with marijuana, he claimed. In texts and social media posts, she said things like 'I wish I never had kids' and threatened to kill herself.
Carrillo also believed she was 'solely responsible' for the coronavirus pandemic, Denton wrote, and she thought that Porterville - where the family had lived until the end of February - was home to a 'giant sex trafficking ring.'
In her interview, Carrillo said she had dealt with depression, anxiety and PTSD her whole life and had sought out a therapist for post-partum depression but contended that it was her husband who posed a threat to the children.
Carrillo in court on April 14. She has been charged with carjacking but not with her kids' murder yet while the results of an autopsy are pending
Carrillo alleged that her daughter and a son had shown signs of abuse and that she had tried but failed to obtain help through social workers and law enforcement.
'They were just going to hand them off to the dad,' she said.
Carrillo sought a temporary restraining order in Los Angeles County.
Through the courts, Denton and Carrillo agreed to swap Denton´s days to see the children - a few hours every other Sunday.
Last Sunday was supposed to be just his second visit with the kids under the new schedule.
Carrillo said she expects to spend the rest of her life in prison.
Asked what her final message to her children, she replied: 'I love you, and I´m sorry.'
Lupe Cuevas pays her respects at a memorial outside the apartment where three young children were killed Saturday morning in San Fernando on Tuesday
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