Suspect Questioned in Drowning Incident

Investigators spent the weekend questioning a supermarket clerk who allegedly drowned one of her two children in a pond but said they had not determined the woman’s motive.

Susan Riley, 32, was arrested Saturday in rural Solano County, ending a daylong air and land search. She was booked on suspicion of murder at the county jail in Fairfield and was being held pending arraignment this week.

Witnesses said Riley drowned her 6-year-old daughter, Melinda, despite their attempts to save the child.

A group of horseback riders said they came across what at first looked like an accident in progress Friday. When they got closer to the pond, they determined that Riley was holding the child’s head under the water and attempted to rescue the girl.

Riley fled the scene, but was arrested a short time later.

Deputies found the girl’s body in about 10 feet of water.