Infant Dead, Mother Comatose

A 15-month-old Long Beach girl died mysteriously and her mother was found unconscious after slashing her wrists and taking a drug overdose in an apparent murder and attempted-suicide case, Long Beach police said Wednesday.

Homicide Officer David Marander said an autopsy would be performed on Isabella Dora Sanford, and that the cause of her death was not readily apparent, but that she too might have had a drug overdose.

Charges against the girl’s mother, Angelica Sanford, 29, would await determination of her condition if and when she recovered, the officer said. Sanford was comatose Wednesday afternoon, and it is possible the drugs she took could have caused brain damage, he said.

The girl and her mother were discovered unconscious in the bathroom by the girl’s father, whose name was not released, when he arrived home from work Tuesday night, Marander said.

The baby was taken to St. Mary Medical Center for treatment, but she was pronounced dead soon after arriving.

Marander urged anyone with information to call police at (562) 570-7244. “There is quite a bit about this that we don’t know,” he said.

Neighbors created an impromptu memorial Wednesday outside the family home in the 4600 block of East 15th Street. Some said they knew the mother and child, and had not noticed anything wrong.