Grandmother accused of fatally stabbing granddaughter has been captured

A grandmother wanted in connection with the fatal stabbing of her 18-month-old granddaughter and the wounding of her daughter and grandchild Monday in Colton has been captured, police said Tuesday.

Nicole Darrington Clark was spotted at 4:15 a.m. Tuesday in San Bernardino, according to Colton Police Cpl. Ray Mendez.

A San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy patrolling the area of 9th Street and Waterman Avenue saw Darrington Clark’s black four-door Hyundai parked behind a closed business and called for assistance.

The deputy approached the car and took Darrington Clark into custody on suspicion of murder, Mendez said. Her bail was set at $1 million.

According to police, Darrington Clark stabbed her daughter and grandchildren just after 9 a.m. Monday inside the family’s apartment in the 1400 block of Santo Antonio Drive.

The daughter told authorities that her mother had stabbed her and the grandchildren, Mendez said.

When officers arrived, they found the youngest grandchild dead, he said. Darrington Clark’s daughter and second granddaughter were taken to a hospital in critical condition. Mendez said the surviving victims were in stable condition Tuesday.

Darrington Clark left before police arrived.

“We don’t know what triggered this event,” Mendez said. “We don’t have a motive.”

Darrington Clark previously had pleaded guilty to stabbing her son and throwing her daughter out of a van while driving on a freeway in 2005. Neither child was seriously injured.

But after the plea, a judge ruled that she was not guilty of two counts of attempted murder by reason of insanity, the Pasadena Star-News reported in 2007. The judge sent her to a state mental hospital for 34 years to life, with progress reports required every six months.

It wasn’t immediately clear when or why she was released from the mental hospital and whether the daughter in the 2005 attack is the same one critically injured Monday.

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UPDATES:

1:40 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details about the arrest.

This article was originally published at 6:15 a.m.