UPDATE, AUG. 26, 9:51 A.M.: Sonia Hermosillo is currently under suicide watch, according to Reuters. See bottom of post for details.
UPDATE, AUG. 24, 4:24 P.M.: Mother Sonia Hermosillo, who was arraigned today for allegedly attempting to murder Noe Medina Jr., will be arraigned Thursday for her baby's murder. See “Noe Medina Jr., OC Homicide No. 40” for more details.
UPDATE, AUG. 24, 1:43 P.M.: NBC 4 is reporting that the baby, Noe Medina Jr., died this morning at the UC Irvine Medical Center.
UPDATE, AUG. 24, 1:32 P.M.: The Orange County District Attorney's office has released a statement on Sonia Hermosillo's arraignment, scheduled for today.
]
Hermosillo, 31, La Habra, faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life
in state prison if she is convicted of her charges: One felony count of
attempted murder with premeditation and deliberation and one felony
count of child abuse causing great bodily injury. A bail of $1 million
is being requested.
It has also come to light that Hermosillo did
indeed remove her seven-month-old son's helmet, which he wore to
correct his plagiocephaly (a
common syndrome in which one side of an infant's head is flattened),
before pushing her baby from the fourth floor of the Children's Hospital of Orange County parking structure.
Check out the DA's full statement at the bottom of the post.
UPDATE, AUG. 24, 9:37 A.M.: The OC Register
is reporting that Sonia Hermosillo, who is accused of throwing her
seven-month-old son from the parking structure of the Children's Hospital
of Orange County, was treated for postpartum depression after stating
she no longer wanted the child.
Why? Because Noe Medina Jr. was diagnosed with congenital
muscular torticollis (a
UPDATE, AUG. 23, 9:20 A.M.: Police have arrested a 31-year-old La Habra mother, Sonia Hermosillo, on suspicion of attempted murder.
The LA Times is reporting that the father of the child reported the missing boy Monday evening.
Soon after the incident, Hermosillo's car was found.
“There was a child seat in the vehicle,” a press release stated, “But no baby.”
ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 22, 2011, 10:06 P.M.: CNN is reporting that a seven-month-old baby (note: Various outlets are reporting the baby is a three-month-old–Sgt. Dan Adams of Orange PD has confirmed the baby's age is indeed seven months old) fell from the parking structure at the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC).
A
female pedestrian is said to have witnessed the fall and called police,
who speculate that the infant was possibly tossed from the second,
third or fourth level of the parking structure.
The baby remains in critical condition at the UC Irvine Medical Center trauma unit–and no further details on its gender or name have been released.
“Obviously a baby can't climb over a railing, so something did happen,” Orange Police Department Sgt. Dan Adams tells CNN.
If you have information on the incident, please call Orange police at (714) 744-7444.
UPDATE, AUG. 24, 1:32 P.M.:
August 24, 2011
MOTHER CHARGED AND TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR ATTEMPTING TO MURDER 7-MONTH-OLD SON BY PUSHING HIM FROM FOURTH STORY OF HOSPITAL PARKING STRUCTURE
SANTA ANA – A mother has been charged and will be arraigned today for attempting to murder her 7-month-old baby by pushing him from the fourth story of a hospital parking structure. Sonia Hermosillo, 31, La Habra, is charged with one felony count of attempted murder with premeditation and deliberation and one felony count of child abuse causing great bodily injury. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison. The People will be requesting Hermosillo be held on $1 million bail, and she is also subject to a no-bail Customs and Immigration Enforcement hold. The defendant is expected to be arraigned today, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011, in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana. Based on the arraignment process in in Department CJ-1, the time is to be determined and will not be available in advance.
On Aug. 22, 2011, Hermosillo is accused of driving her 7-month-old son, Baby Doe, to the Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) and parking her car on the fourth floor of a parking structure. The baby suffered medical conditions that required him to be treated at CHOC regularly, but he did not have a scheduled appointment that day. The victim wore a helmet on his head for one of his medical conditions.
At approximately 6:20 p.m., Hermosillo is accused of removing the victim's helmet and pushing her baby from the parking structure with the intention of murdering him with the four-story fall. After attempting to murder Baby Doe, Hermosillo is accused of walking inside the hospital, validating her parking, and fleeing the scene.
A witness who saw the baby falling through the air called 911 and the Orange Police Department (OPD), who is investigating this case, responded to the scene. Baby Doe was transported to the trauma center at the University of California, Irvine Medical Center and remains in critical condition.
OPD obtained a license plate number from a vehicle and matched it to an address in La Habra. The La Habra Police Department (LHPD) and OPD began to communicate and it was determined that Hermosillo's husband had just called LHPD to report the defendant and his son missing.
At approximately 10:15 p.m., Hermosillo is accused of driving past CHOC on Main Street and was observed by an OPD officer. She was arrested at the scene.
The defendant is married and has two other children.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Scott Simmons of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
UPDATE, AUG. 26, 9:51 A.M.: Sonia Hermosillo, who allegedly pushed her seven-month-old baby boy from the fourth floor of the Children's Hospital of Orange County parking structure on Monday, is currently under suicide watch. A doctor has found her mentally unfit to attend court and her arraignment has been postponed to Monday.
Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino adds that the arraignment date could be delayed once again if doctors determine Hermosillo is still mentally unfit to attend court.
The baby, Noe Jr., died of his injuries on Wednesday morning.
