A group of lawyers representing Erik Denton, the father of three children who were tragically killed by their mother in Reseda in 2021, is seeking a court order to obtain the personnel records of approximately twelve Los Angeles police officers involved in the case. Denton filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County in April 2022, alleging negligence on the part of the officers and their failure to take the deteriorating mental health of Liliana Carrillo, the mother of the children, seriously. The attorneys argue that the officers did not share vital information with county social workers.
A report published by the county Office of Child Protection after the killings revealed that Denton’s cousin, Dr. Teri Miller, an emergency room physician, had pleaded with the officers for help and expressed concern that Carrillo might harm the children. The plaintiff’s attorneys highlight in their court filing that these pleas were ignored by the officers.
Liliana Carrillo, 32, has pled not guilty to three murder charges in Los Angeles Superior Court for the drowning deaths of her 6-month-old daughter Sierra, 3-year-old daughter Joanna, and 2-year-old son Terry, which occurred on April 10, 2021. The charge related to the youngest daughter includes an allegation that Carrillo used a knife during the commission of the crime. According to a deputy medical examiner, the child sustained a stab wound to the chest that punctured her left lung.
“The central issue in this case is the failure of several LAPD officers to fulfill their duties as mandatory reporters of child abuse and neglect,” argues Denton’s legal team in their court documents. They further assert that evidence they have gathered shows that the LAPD received a report of possible molestation of the children in February 2021 but failed to prepare a required electronic report or notify the county Department of Children and Family Services.
A month later, when Denton called the police and presented an emergency custody order demanding Carrillo to hand over the children, LAPD officers responded. According to Denton’s attorneys, the police report indicates that Carrillo was potentially suffering from an unknown mental illness.
“These egregious failures raise significant questions about the knowledge and training of the officers involved in dealing with allegations of a mother with mental illness potentially posing a threat to her own children, as well as their familiarity with other available resources to prevent such tragedies,” Denton’s lawyers stated.
In an interview with a reporter from KGET, the Bakersfield NBC affiliate, conducted while she was in jail, Carrillo explained her motive for killing her children: she feared they would be subject to abuse and sexual assault by others. She admitted to drowning them but emphasized that she did so to protect them from further harm.
When asked if she regretted her actions, Carrillo expressed sorrow for the loss of her children’s lives but asserted that she preferred they were not subjected to ongoing abuse and torture.
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