Mother Arrested In Tots' Bathtub Drownings

A woman arrested after her two young daughters were found dead in a bathtub struggled with the pressures of being a mother and going to school, neighbors said.

The father of the two young girls pulled them from a bathtub Monday, where they apparently drowned, police said.

The girls' mother, Amber Hill, 22, was arrested at her apartment for further questioning. No charges had been filed, and she remained in jail Monday night.

Hill, who neighbors said was studying to be a nursing assistant, had no history of abusing or neglecting her children with the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, The Plain Dealer reported in a story published Tuesday.

Deondra Hurt, 19, who lives in the same two-story apartment building, said Hill had taken good care of the children, ages 4 and 2.

"She always had her kids dressed up, with hair done every day," Hurt said. "She took care of them. They were well behaved kids. They played jump rope and would write on the ground with chalk."

The girls' father, Jamie Cintron, 23, told police he received a call at work from Hill and she told him that the children "are at peace," said Cleveland police Lt. Thomas Stacho.

Cintron told police he went to the apartment and pulled his daughters from the water in the bathtub.

"Both my daughters are laying here dead! Why? Why are my daughters dead?" a weeping Cintron screamed into a telephone while making a 911 emergency call to police.

Hurt said she heard the girls' father screaming and shouting. She later went to the apartment and saw Hill "on a couch, and she was just sitting there. She was a nice girl. It's real sad."

"It was some beautiful little girls, you know? We all loved them, you know? Especially the father," his mother, Nellie Cintron, told CBS affiliate WOIO-TV.

Hill provided only her name, age and address, but would not answer further questions at the apartment, Stacho said. She was calm and showed no emotion when she was taken away by police, he said.

"At this point she's our only suspect," he said.

Hill was placed in one police cruiser, Cintron in another.

"Just pray for our family. Pray for the girls. They're in heaven now," Cintron told reporters.

Stacho said the girls were placed on life support by a city medical services crew and were pronounced dead at MetroHealth Medical Center.

They apparently drowned, Stacho said.

Cause of death is pending autopsies Tuesday, said Dr. Frank Miller, Cuyahoga County coroner. He was trying to confirm the correct names of the victims. The coroner and police had various spellings of their first names.