Adelanto woman held in death of infant daughter

Howard Blume
·1 min read
Khan, Irfan –– B582082433Z.1 BREA, CA, May 04, 2012 ––– A San Bernardino County Sheriff search dog team leaves Olinda Alpha Landfill in Brea on early Friday morning. Olinda Alpha Landfill is a place where according to Orange police Sgt. Dan Adams investigators searched for the bodies of missing mom and her two sons. Earlier at press conference Sgt. Adams announced taking into custody A man taken into custody Shazer Fernando Limas, 31, at the end of a vehicle chase through South Orange County, on suspicion of murdering his former live–in girlfriend and their two young sons. Limas was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers on Interstate 5 south of the San Onofre weigh station in San Diego County around 7:45 p.m. Thursday, said Orange police Sgt. Dan Adams. Police began looking for Limas and the missing woman, 31–year–old Arlet Hernandez, and her children after finding blood at noon Thursday along with other evidence of an altercation in a vacant apartment they had shared at 3063 W. Chapman Avenue, Orange. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
A San Bernardino County sheriff's vehicle. The department has made an arrest in the death of a 7-month-old girl. (Los Angeles Times)

An Adelanto woman has been booked on a murder charge in the death of her 7-month-old daughter.

Mayra Rodriguez-Garcia, 36, also was booked for a count of torture and child abuse causing death, according to a release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

Officers arrested Rodriguez-Garcia after investigating the circumstances around an overnight call to a residence in the 11400 block of Russet Place.

Read more: Was death in San Diego County women's jail a crime? Case against doctor, nurse begins

Deputies arrived at 2:11 a.m. Saturday to find the baby girl not breathing. They performed CPR until emergency personnel arrived and transported her to a hospital. The child was pronounced dead at 3:11 a.m.

During the subsequent investigation, deputies and medical personnel found signs of trauma to the infant that were "consistent with child abuse," the Sheriff's Department stated. Homicide detectives took over the investigation.

Detectives concluded that Rodriguez-Garcia was responsible for the death of her daughter.

Rodriguez-Garcia was being held without bail in the High Desert Detention Center, authorities reported.

Anyone with information about this case can report anonymously at the We-Tip Hotline, (800) 782-7463, or go to WeTip.com.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.