Mother Jailed in Boys’ Deaths

A 39-year-old Simi Valley woman was arrested Sunday after allegedly leaving her two young sons inside the family’s minivan where they died of heat exposure.

Marlene Heath remained in Ventura County Jail on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths of her 3-year-old son, Jake, and his 13-month-old brother, Dylan, said Police Lt. Jon Ainsworth.

For four hours on Saturday afternoon, the boys sat behind the darkly tinted, rolled-up windows of the white Dodge van parked in the driveway of the family’s Ralston Avenue home, Ainsworth said. Inside the house, Heath was asleep, he said.

Both boys died of hyperthermia, said Mitch Breese, an investigator with the Ventura County medical examiner’s office.

The temperature in Simi Valley at the time was nearly 90 degrees.

Police said they are investigating the possibility that Heath, a medical records transcriber, may have been under the influence of alcohol. One police official said Heath had “exhibited signs” of intoxication.

Heath gave a blood sample at Simi Valley Hospital before being booked into Ventura County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail. The results will be available in a few days, Ainsworth said. Heath will appear in court on Tuesday.

According to Ainsworth, Heath left her home with her sons on Saturday afternoon to attend a company picnic in Ventura but returned home for unknown reasons. She parked the van in the driveway and went inside the house, where she fell asleep about 2:30 p.m, he said.

Heath woke up shortly after 6 and rushed to the vehicle, where she found her sons still strapped in their child-safety seats and unresponsive, police said.

It’s unclear exactly what Heath did next, but neighbors and police said she may have carried both boys from the van to the backyard swimming pool to cool them off before taking them inside and laying them on a bed.

Although the children were already dead, Heath tried to resuscitate them before calling her husband at the car dealership where he works in Westlake Village. Philip Heath, 43, then called 911.

Several neighbors said Marlene Heath appeared panicked when police arrived and that she told them she thought she’d been asleep for only a few minutes.

“Those were my nephews,” said a sobbing Robert Tejeda, who arrived at the family’s home Sunday afternoon looking for his brother, the boys’ father. “Everybody, my brothers and sisters, are all totally devastated.”

The boys’ deaths shocked neighbors, many of whom described Heath as a doting mother who enjoyed taking her two young sons to play at the local park, on strolls through the neighborhood and on occasional day trips to the beach.

A few weeks ago, when her youngest son had his first birthday, Heath rented a Jolly Jumper that she inflated on the front lawn and invited friends to come over and celebrate.

“If there was a problem, you’d never know it,” said Julie Martin, a family friend. “She was a good mother who appears to have made an absolutely horrible mistake.”

Neighbor Tom Archibald, who had gone to Dylan’s recent birthday party and took several photographs showing a smiling Marlene Heath, said he waved at the boys’ mom almost every morning when both were outside getting ready to leave for work.

“I don’t understand,” Archibald said. “I’m totally shocked. These are good people, but this is very disturbing.”

In between fielding questions from reporters, Archibald walked over to the Heaths’ home and placed a small potted sunflower plant at the front door.

Another neighbor, Brian Turner, said the Heaths “seemed like your average family.”

“It’s hard to understand how this happened, and there are all sorts of different theories going around,” said Turner, as he held a friend’s baby outside the Heaths’ home.

Several neighbors said the Heaths had moved to the Ralston Avenue home about four years ago from Ventura to care for Philip’s father, Ernie, who was battling cancer and died two years ago.

“His family seemed like normal, down-to-earth people,” said Otilia Pacho, another neighbor. “This is so sad.”

Times photographer Spencer Weiner contributed to this story.