Mother Discusses Daughters’ Deaths

Jackie Robles, freed from jail and able to finally speak about the death of two of her children who were struck Tuesday by a Metrolink train, disclosed Friday one possible reason authorities are pursuing a child endangerment investigation: the presence of a 20-year-old man in her apartment when the toddlers wandered off.

Robles, 21, speaking to reporters after a Juvenile Court hearing on custody of her 2-month-old son, acknowledged that “a friend” was in the house Tuesday morning with her.

“But he was asleep,” she said. “He didn’t know anything about it.”

Jeff Harris, 20, who lives with his family in another unit of the apartment complex, said later that he had “crashed” on the floor of Robles’ apartment and was asleep before the two young half sisters had breakfast and did not awaken until after the discovery that they had been struck by the train.

Harris would not say how long he had been in Robles’ apartment.

Robles later elaborated on her relationship with Harris. “He’s just a buddy, just a friend,” she said. “We all know each other [in the complex].”

Chaim Magnum, Robles’ attorney, said of Harris’ presence in the apartment, “There’s absolutely no romantic relationship between them. They just talk once in a while.”

The more critical issue, he said, was the apartment’s deadbolt, which can fail to properly engage. Given the comings and goings in the apartment, Robles may have believed the deadbolt was secure when it was not, Magnum said.

Robles was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of felony child endangerment, but the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office said Thursday it would not decide whether to press charges until more investigative work is completed.

Thursday night, Robles was released after spending two days in a county jail and visited the tracks where the girls were struck. “My babies! My babies! Oh, my babies!” she sobbed, placing two red roses at a trackside shrine that already contained stuffed toys, candles and other memorials.

Robles spoke publicly for the first time Friday--after the custody hearing and again later as she was leaving her apartment to plan funeral arrangements for her two daughters, 3-year-old Alexes Robles and 22-month-old Deziree Soto.

She carried with her several bills to pay and a photo album with a quilted cover.

The girls’ funeral is tentatively planned for Wednesday.

In Juvenile Court, Robles was granted permission to visit her infant son pending a final custody decision.

Fernando Soto, the father of the younger girl and the 2-month-old son, is in jail after having pleaded guilty to felony spousal abuse charges for assaulting Robles in August.

Robles for the first time offered her own account of what happened Tuesday, saying the children were fed cereal and she then “laid back down and dozed off. I went into one of those sleeps where you don’t hear anything.”

She said she lay on the floor with her children, who were watching television, and estimated she fell asleep about 9:30 a.m.

Neighbors said they saw her girls in the apartment courtyard about 10 a.m., and they were later seen walking unattended about half a block down the street toward the unfenced railroad tracks.

As another neighbor watched--and assumed the girls were supervised--the girls were struck by the commuter train just before 11 a.m.

Robles said Friday, “I’m doing a lot better now that I’m with family and not in jail. It wasn’t right that they [police] took me just like that.”

In the face of public criticism, Upland police have steadfastly maintained that there are undisclosed elements in the case that prompted them to arrest Robles. On Friday they again declined to elaborate.

But Magnum said Friday, “The police have absolutely nothing.”

Robles said: “I am not a bad mother. It’s not like I intended for this to happen. . . . This wasn’t my fault, and if they [police] were parents, they’d understand.”