Woman Jumps Off Overpass; Newborn She Left at Home Dies

A woman who neighbors said was suffering from depression apparently tried to commit suicide by jumping off a freeway overpass Wednesday morning, just minutes before her infant son--whom she left unattended--was pronounced dead, Burbank police said.

“It could be the baby died of natural causes and the mother was suffering from postpartum depression,” said Lt. Don Brown.

The tragic series of events began about 10 a.m. when Burbank police officers tried to resuscitate 10-day-old Colin McCollough, left alone at his family’s duplex in the 1200 block of North Kenwood Street.

Police said the baby’s father, Jeffrey McCollough, 35, a self-employed roofing contractor, called authorities after he arrived home from work and discovered the infant in a bedroom, bleeding from the mouth. The boy’s mother, who had been home with the infant, was gone.

“He was giving CPR to the baby when the officers arrived,” Sgt. Scott Wilson said. Paramedics took the baby to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he was pronounced dead about 10:30 a.m.

Minutes earlier, California Highway Patrol officers were notified of a woman who had jumped from the Hollywood Way overpass onto the Ventura Freeway.

The woman, later identified as the baby’s mother, Tani R. McCollough, 31, was rushed to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she underwent surgery and was listed in “extremely critical condition,” said Harvey Kern, a hospital spokesman.

Authorities gave conflicting reports on whether McCollough was struck by any cars after she landed on the freeway, but one CHP officer said a trucker stopped his vehicle in an effort to protect the woman from oncoming traffic.

Police are awaiting autopsy results to determine whether the child died of natural causes, although authorities said there were no obvious signs of trauma.