Mother Arrested For Stabbing 3 Toddlers To Death In Gruesome Murder

After an hour-long search, authorities apprehended a mother who stabbed her three children to death. Officials accused her of carjacking a pickup truck.

According to Los Angeles police, officials arrested Liliana Carrillo, 30, about 175 miles north of the crime scene in Tulare County. They said Carillo was "the sole suspect in this case."

The Los Angeles Times said the grandmother of the kids – aged 3, 2 and 6 months – found their bodies in the Reseda, California, apartment around 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Carrillo had already left by that time.

While CBS Los Angeles confirmed that the children had been stabbed, police did not include a cause of death.

"These are the moments we carry throughout our career," Lt. Raul Joel said at the scene. He noted that innocent lives had been lost. "It's hard to process that as a police officer."

He said there had been no previous calls to the police station at the address.

Neighbors said they often saw the children with their grandma, who seemed to be their primary guardian.

Elizabeth Cuevas, who lives above the apartment where the crime was committed, told The Los Angeles Times she knew the grandmother as a casual friend. Cuevas said she sometimes saw the grandma and the children while walking her dogs.

Cuevas described one of the kids as a "sweet little girl" who asked to pet her Chihuahua mix. "She was a perfect little angel," Cuevas said. "She was precious beyond what you could imagine."

Cuevas noted that the girl was the middle child and that the other two children she believed were boys. She saud that she doesn't understand why the crime happened. Cuevas said that the kids seemed to be well-loved.

Meanwhile, Teri Miller, a cousin of the children's father, told Fox 11 that they have been fighting for custody of the two girls and boy for a long time.

Carrillo "needed help," according to Miller. Miller added the father, Erick Denton, had repeatedly reached out to Department of Children and Families (DCFS) and police for assistance.

DCFS was one of the departments present during the on-scene probe. However, it did not comment on Saturday's fatal stabbing.

Denton's family says the children's father received an emergency order in early March granting him custody of the children but was unable to seek assistance.