28-year-old woman livestreams herself stabbing her mom to death, California police say

Don Sweeney
·2 min read
3

A woman livestreamed herself stabbing her mother, who later died, on Facebook, California police reported.

Online viewers and neighbors reported the attack to 911 shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, San Rafael police said in a news release.

Officers responding to the woman’s apartment complex spotted her standing on a balcony holding a knife next to her mother, whose clothes were covered in blood, police said.

Police arrested Tonantzyn Oris Beltran, 28, of San Rafael on a charge of murder, officers said.

Her 55-year-old mother, who had “extensive life-threatening injuries,” died a short time later at a hospital, police said.

Investigators later discovered Beltran broadcast the incident on Facebook Live, police said. They also found other videos posted by Beltran, including one of herself in the lobby of the Santa Rosa Police Department earlier the same day.

Police contacted Meta, the owner of Facebook, which took down the video.

“For this to happen yesterday, it blows me away,” neighbor Gary Bendana told The Marin Independent Journal on Jan. 9.

Friend Hilda Castillo told KNTV the slain woman, whom police did not name in the release, was an activist who fought for affordable housing and immigrant rights.

“She was a community leader and a fighter, she always fought for social justice,” Castillo told the station.

“I still can’t believe it,” friend Solange Echeverria told KTVU. “It’s a huge loss, and we’re still reeling from it.”

A video posted to TikTok shortly before the slaying showed Beltran’s mother begging her to stop harming herself and putting herself in danger, the station reported.

An investigation into the death and motive for the attack continues, police said.

They ask that anyone with information call 415-485-3000 or leave a tip at http://www.srpd.org/tips.

San Rafael is about 20 miles north of San Francisco.

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