Tragedy in Trinity
McKinleyville mother charged with murder in drowning death of her 2-year-old daughter
(May 26, 2011) Just two days after allegedly confessing that she’d drowned her own 2-year-old daughter, Sophia, in the Trinity River, 30-year-old Claudia Pedreros of McKinleyville appeared in Trinity County Superior Court Tuesday afternoon to be arraigned on a charge of murder.
As an interpreter read the charge to Pedreros in Spanish (she’s believed to be from Chile), she laughed briefly — a seemingly clear indication of insanity.
That’s the only explanation that makes sense to most people as they try to comprehend the tragedy that unfolded last weekend.
On Saturday morning, the bright sunlight drifting through the trees of Trinity River Campground was in sharp contrast to the dark mood surrounding the search for young Sophia Pedreros-Parker. The grounds, usually a place for families to enjoy the river, had been turned into a command post for search-and-rescue teams. Deputies stood around a picnic table talking in hushed voices as Sgt. Ray Hurlburt, the search incident commander, gave orders on expanding the search. No one dared speak of the chances of survival for Sophia, who by then had been missing for 36 hours.
Less than hour later the child’s body was found tangled in brush and floating half a mile downstream.
Pedreros lived in McKinleyville with her husband, Robert Parker, Sofia and Parker’s father. The search had stretched more than 140 miles — from McKinleyville, along the twists and turns of State Route 299 to the Trinity River Campground near Coffee Creek.
Multiple agencies helped with the search and investigation including Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta and Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Offices, the FBI and the California Department of Justice.
Here’s the timeline, as reconstructed by witnesses and law enforcement officials:
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NINE Comments
Comment / By Jackie Wellbaum / May 27, 1:38 a.m.
Although this report indicates that “blood and urine tested negative for narcotics,” no mention is made of performing toxicology tests which screen for the existence of one or more pharmaceutical drugs and the ‘metabolites’ of those drugs.
In a recent report by the Institute of Safe Medication Practices (ISMP) written by Thomas Moore, a long-time public safety advocate committed to keeping dangerous prescription drugs off the market, 31 out of 484 approved drugs currently on the market were found disproportionally associated with the side effect “violence towards others.” These prescription drugs included “,,,[Chantix] (a smoking cessation aid), 11 antidepressant drugs, 3 drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and 5 hypnotic/sedatives.” As drug safety advocate Mr. Moore points out, “Violence towards others is a seldom-studied adverse drug event and an atypical one because the risk of injury extends to others.”
Given reported “previous mental health issues,” it may be that Mrs. Pedreros’ use of one or more prescription drugs may have resulted in the alleged infanticide. When and only when toxicology reports (if ordered during the initial investigation) are available, Sophia’s mother’s behavior must be reported to the FDA’s MEDWATCH safety alert system so that, should similar reports begin to emerge, others might be warned of such a tragic side-effect before further unsuspecting children are placed in the very real danger of being harmed or killed by their own mother, as alleged.
@JackieWellbaum
Reference: Moore TJ, Glenmullen J, Furberg CD, 2010 Prescription Drugs Associated with Reports of Violence Towards Others. PLoS ONE 5(12): e15337. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0015337
ISMP Dec. 2010 report can be found by clicking here: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0015337#s3
Comment / By G.M. / May 27, 7:42 p.m.
Is it just the videotape or does the father just seem to be crying - but has not one tear that I can see. He appears to be closing his eyes and has an appearance of angst, but not really.
Comment / By Anonymous / May 28, 7:23 a.m.
Shame on you, GM!
Comment / By joyluck / May 28, 8:47 a.m.
there has to be more to this tragic story that is not being told here…..dig deeper Journal. Why did the father in law instantly call in a missing persons report? does the father in law speak Spanish? is that the language they were arguing in or were they unable to effectively communicate? was the father of the child at work? where was he? did he know the severity of her mental illness? why was she alone with the child if she was having symptoms of a breakdown? Sophia deserves to have the full truth uncovered here….what was going on in that home?
Comment / By hilda yanez / May 30, 6:11 p.m.
its very tragic what has happened, a mothers love is so big its hard to believe what happened to the child. there has to be more of the story that are not being told nobody goes insane from one day to the other. if there was abuse in the home it raises lots of questions, why she was running away? and if the mother suffered abuse did the child go though the same?hope and pray that they investigate more deeply and punish the person that was the cause of the tragedy the abuser
Comment / By GM / May 31, 1:34 p.m.
Sorry, Joyluck. I have seen too many people “crying” over a lost child on TV, when they were not “crying” at all…. I did ask if it was the video’s quality that was at fault. Did anyone see tears? The writer won’t respond.
Comment / By lmills / June 1, 10:45 p.m.
Mental illness is real, folks, and it is irrational and strange. Refer back to Andrea Yates http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673606697894/fulltext
Comment / By Jme / Nov. 19, 8:13 a.m.
Very surprised to see so many comments instantly trying to revert the blame on the father of the little girl. Not a single article indicated that he did anything wrong. This mother admitted to holding her child’s head under water until she drowned. How can you twist a conspiracy theory out of this clear case of mental illness?
Comment / By LDW / Today, 1:27 a.m.
Abuse and Medication run hand in hand. Simply because you never know how any one person may react or the side effects they will endure from either abuse or medication. In the end, no matter how long things take, whats done in the dark will always come to the light.