Carol Coronado, 30, stabbed her three young children to death and then got into bed with them. The children ranged in age from 2 1/2 to 2 months old. That is red flag number one.
Earlier that morning, Carol had called her mother to say she was ‘going crazy.’ Red flag number two.
Carol’s mother was at work so she called Carol’s sister-in-law, Sandra, and asked her to give Carol a call. Sandra, whose brother Rudy Coronado is Carol’s husband, now reports that Carol denied anything was wrong, but did admit to being exhausted. Sandra could hear babies crying in the background, but that was not unusual. She quotes Carol as saying, “Just tell your brother to calm down.” Red flags #3, #4, and #5.
Rudy’s mother arrived in the afternoon, while Rudy was outside working on his car. She emerged from the house screaming that the children were dead. She had called 911. Police came and led Carol out of the house, naked under a blanket and covered with blood. She was covered with stab wounds, most of them superficial.
Now, this next part is key:
Carol Coronado, who was taking classes on the Internet, stayed at home with the children while her husband went out early each day to sell car parts at the Alpine Village swap meets.
She kept a cluttered home, which triggered some discord with her husband.
“I believe that was their main issue,” the sister-in-law said. “My brother wanted the house clean for his girls. He wanted to come home to a home-cooked meal.” ~ (my italics) Daily Breeze, Larry Altman
Here is the house, described as a former workshop or converted garage. I’ll take the liberty of calling it a shithole.
I’m thinking, Andrea Yates. I’m thinking too many babies, postpartum depression, trapped in a shithole, demanding husband, desperation, no way out.
What are you thinking?
I’m thinking what you’re thinking.
Marin – Thank you for weighing in on this.
Im thinking tragedy. Probably a lot of what you are suggesting, probably much more we don’t / will never know – mental illness in various possible forms, abuse, certainly despair, anger – a knife, stabbing is a very physical act…who knows. But right now I’m just thinking tragedy.
Me too.
I thought Andrea Yates as well. I’d go nuts in her situation, too. Poor thing.
This shit is so depressing for so many reasons. Those poor babies. I feel bad for everyone involved.
Three kids under 2 1/2 (three babies), no help from the husband, she wants to better herself through some sort of education, but with three babies . . . and most important of all she didn’t keep the house tidy and make home cooked meals. Yup, she’s guilty as hell . . . for being over worked, under resourced, not having birth control, and a marrying a schmuck.
I agree too, it is SAD and just like you said many red flags. My sister went thru something similar not as extreme with 3 babies but we saw the red flags and did not leave her alone and she got help and is all wonderful now. Some women are not as lucky.
There is a photo of her from her Facebook page where she’s taking a (yep, gonna say it) “selfie” in the mirror in a slinky black dress, and she looks dead in the eyes. Someone commented “Dang girl!! U trying to get pregnant again!” It’s dated May 11, 2013, so I guess she took that as advice, seeing as how her youngest was 2 months old.
Too bad she didn’t just take off and leave the kids with the husband, at least they’d still be alive.
I’m thinking the same exact thing as you.
I feel somewhat relieved after reading your Andrea Yates post. I’m not a mom, nor will I be one for a while, but it feels reassuring to know that I will not be the only one feeling overwhelmed by being a mother when the time comes. All moms struggle at one point or another. Thank you.
Very sad and disturbing. Her husband deserves his future lifetime of grief…
tragedy. and then Im thinking Idiocracy.
Poor woman, I hope they look after her and give her the care she so obviously needs. I’m not sure one could ever recover from a breakdown of this degree; Living with the pain of three dead children, by your own hand, would be enough to keep most of us in permanent mental stasis.
I can’t understand what pushes a person to kill their own children. It seems there must always be other options. I’m not judging, I just don’t get it.
I’m thinking DESPAIR, writ large
Dealing with 3 kids that age AND a keeping a house clean is not doable for most people let alone a depressed woman.
The area where this took place is not a good area, as you can tell. It’s “county” between Torrance and Carson, and a lot of tweakers live in these parts.
So it could be a myriad of things from genetically based and/or post-partum depression, a lack of resources, a poor marriage to a real clueless guy, too many kids too quickly, and possibly drug addiction or other substance abuse.
Andrea Yates not only had post-partum depression, she had also previously been diagnosed as schizophrenic, too. I wonder if the same could be said for this woman – hopefully, it will be discovered.
I also hope she ends up in treatment, not just in prison. Unfortunately, Andrea Yates is just in prison with no treatment for her psychiatric illnesses (well, they probably give her pills every day, but she gets no therapy in prison, I’m guessing). These are cases that really cry out for some sort of psychiatric treatment, not just a life-long prison sentence, although of course, justice demands more than just a cushy hospital bed.
Hang on. The husband was at home working on a car and didn´t notice anything wrong? It took his mother to come home to find out? Red flags all over the place indeed.
Your Andrea Yates article was the best thing I have read in ages. Thank you, SisterWolf for being amazing.
I’m thinking what you’re thinking too, Sister. This is a seriously ill woman, and unlike the UCSB shooter, I don’t think she lived her life wanting to be a violent murderous asshole.
These comments and the reaction to this person’s crime remind me of that part in the movie “As Good as It Gets” where the woman asks Jack Nicholson’s character, “How do you write women so well?” He replies “I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.” If a man stabbed his three children and climbed into bed with them he would be rightly despised by the entire civilized world, and no one would dare slight the lives of his dead kids by saying he had “too many” of them. That woman did something heinous and our first reaction shouldn’t be to make excuses for her.