L.A. area mother arrested in deaths of her 3 young kids

TORRANCE, Calif. -- A mother was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of killing her three young daughters, the youngest only 2 months old, authorities said.

Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were called to an unincorporated area near this Los Angeles suburb shortly after 5 p.m., a Sheriff's Department statement said.

"When they arrived, they were met by family members who told the deputies that a mother had killed her children," the statement said.

Deputies found three girls, a 3-year-old, 2-year-old and 2-month-old. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

"The deputies were directed to the house by the grandmother," sheriff's homicide Lt. Dave Coleman told the Daily Breeze of Torrance. "We did find the babies inside the residence."

Carol Coronado, 30, was arrested on suspicion of murder, taken to a hospital for examination and then to a sheriff's station for booking. Authorities say she made no statement.

Investigators tell CBS Los Angeles they recovered murder weapons at the home. They haven't said what those weapons are or how the children were killed, though neighbors say they were told the children were stabbed to death.

Neighbor Ashley Madrid told the Daily Breeze the children's father was working on his car across the street when his mother-in-law discovered her daughter and the three children in a pool of blood on a bed.

"I saw when they were bringing him out," Madrid said. "He was crying. He was crying, 'She killed my daughters!"'

Madrid said she was told the mother had a kitchen knife in her hand and was trying to cut her wrists.

Sheriff's deputies took the mother, who was naked except for a blanket, to a patrol car and she was then placed in an ambulance, Madrid said.

"She was full of blood on her face and arms," Madrid said.

Madrid said the children's grandmother told her that the woman had called earlier in the day and said that she was going crazy.