Mom of Five Accused of Killing Twins After Leaving California Shelter: Police

Stock photo of police tape. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

A California woman is accused in the death of her twin 10-month-old children while staying at a hotel in Tulare after reportedly leaving a women’s shelter.

Heather Langdon, 37, allegedly killed her twin boys, Mason and Maddox Murguia, inside the Virginia Motor Lodge at 709 S K Street.

She was given a free night at the motel by a nonprofit agency after she was escorted away from a women’s shelter by police because she allegedly had created disturbances, NBC2 reported. “Officers arrived there and the shelter asked that she leave for causing the disturbances,” Sgt. Jon Hamlin said.

The twins were found in a bathtub at the motel.

“She kept saying that ‘I almost drowned them. I almost drowned my babies,’ and she was trying to help the babies. But I didn’t know that they were already deceased,” said witness, Maria Marez, in the NBC affiliate report.

Marez said she ran to room 24 after she heard the woman calling for help. But when she arrived, it was too late.

Susan Diaz, who was staying at the motel, said she saw Langdon dazed and confused.

“She was just standing there looking around. She looked kind of worried like something was wrong,” Diaz said.

“Sad. Real sad that I saw something like that,” added Marez to YourCentralValley. “Got to take it day by day and remember this day. December 6th for the rest of my life,” said Marez.

Her family members said Langdon and her husband have been divorced for a few years. They have three other children, including a 5-year-old, a 13-year-old, and a 14-year-old.

Heather Langdon was initially staying at the women’s shelter in Tulare. (Google Maps)

It’s not clear why Langdon was initially staying at the women’s shelter.

There was no confirmation that Langdon had appeared before a judge or entered a plea. She is in jail without bail, People magazine reported. It’s also not clear if she has an attorney to respond to the charges.

Police have yet to state a possible motive in the killings.

Workers at the Lighthouse Rescue Mission said they are the only women’s shelter in Tulare. They couldn’t confirm if she had stayed there, according to YourCentralValley.

Tulare is located in Central California about 100 miles north of Bakersfield and about 50 miles southeast of Fresno.

Violent Crime Declines in 2017

The FBI said that in 2017 violent crime had dropped by 0.2 percent, according to a release, but aggravated and rape offenses increased by a respective 1.0 percent and 2.5 percent. The murder rate dropped by 0.7 percent, the agency said.

“In 2017, there were an estimated 1,247,321 violent crimes. The estimated number of robbery offenses decreased 4.0 percent, and the estimated number of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter offenses decreased 0.7 percent when compared with estimates from 2016. The estimated volume of aggravated assault and rape (revised definition) offenses increased 1.0 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively,” said the FBI.

The agency added: “By violent crime offense, the arrest rate for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter was 3.8 per 100,000 inhabitants; rape (aggregate total using the revised and legacy definition), 7.2; robbery, 29.3; and aggravated assault, 120.4 per 100,000 inhabitants. Meanwhile, the FBI said that there are now 670,279 sworn officers and 286,662 civilian officers in the U.S, which is a rate of 3.4 employees per 1,000 inhabitants.