Mother to Be Tried for Murder in Baby’s Death

A La Habra woman must stand trial in the murder of her infant son, who died after she allegedly left him in a hot car with the windows up, a municipal judge ruled Monday.

Judge Jack Hunt said there is sufficient evidence that Kimberley Sue Fudge, 29, committed second-degree murder when she left her 5-month-old son in a sweltering car for six hours June 14 while she and her boyfriend slept inside an air-conditioned motel room in Claremont.

Fudge is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail and was ordered to appear in Superior Court on July 26 to enter a plea.

Hunt’s ruling concluded a preliminary hearing at which a Claremont police officer testified that Fudge confessed to leaving Cailan Cutillo in a car outside the motel from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Hours earlier, Fudge also abandoned the child in the same car parked outside a Kmart, said Det. Lawrence Horowitz.

A Sheriff’s Department drug expert testified that Fudge had a large amount of methamphetamine in her blood when the baby was found.

Police said Fudge went to the Howard Johnson Hotel to see her boyfriend, fell asleep and awoke to discover the baby dead.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carol Najara said Fudge’s actions at the Kmart proved that she deliberately left her child in the car.

“Some acts are so intentional they no longer fall into the realm of accidents,” Najara said.

But defense attorney David Goldstein argued that when Fudge left the child about 7:30 a.m. the temperature was about 64 to 70 degrees and that there was no risk to human life.