Torrance Mom Accused of Killing Three Children to Undergo Psychiatric Evaluation, Husband Blames Postpartum Depression

The suspect's husband blames the death of his daughters on "that disease."

The husband of a Southern California mom accused of fatally stabbing her three small children then trying to kill herself said he believes postpartum depression turned his wife into someone unrecognizable and he regrets having failed to read warning signs of the disease.

"I'm not a doctor but I know for a fact that was that disease, and it wasn't my wife,” Rudy Coronado said of his wife Carol on Thursday.

Carol Coronado, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the deaths of her young daughters in her Torrence home on May 20. Coronado also faces an attempted murder charge for allegedly trying to kill her mother at the time of the slayings. She was hospitalized after she tried to commit suicide by stabbing herself in the chest following the killings, police said.

Carol Coronado’s lawyer has now hired a psychologist to evaluate Carol Coronado for any signs of postpartum depression.


Her husband, who spoke Thursday after Coronado was back in court, said there were “a lot of signs that I didn’t know how to read.”

"That's the reason why we need to bring awareness to (postpartum depression) because I was never educated on nothing like this," Rudy Coronado said. "I didn't have a clue. And I know, I know Carol, and she would never ever in a million years do anything like that to no one."

A witness told NBC4 that Carol Coronado was naked, covered in blood and "zoned out," when she was escorted out of the home the day the children -- 2-year-old Sophia, 1-year-old Yazmine and 3-month old Xenia — were killed.

"It's just hard you know? It's my, my daughters. It's just, just difficult you know," Rudy Coronado said. "It doesn't get easier by the day, it gets a little more harder."

Still, he defended his wife.

"Anything you can think of, of a great woman. That's Carol," Coronado said. "She doesn't deserve to be where she's at."

Though Carol Coronado has not been officially diagnosed, the family has set up the Coronado Angel Fund to help bring awareness to postpartum depression.

"We wanted to draw attention to the issue of postpartum depression and psychosis," family attorney Stephen Allen said during Carol's court appearance on May 29. "I think that more needs to be done to diagnose this type of disorder."

Anyone who wants to contribute can donate to the Coronado Angel Fund with Wells Fargo account number 3842930731.

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