A woman suspected in the shooting deaths of her two 8-year-old grandchildren, who she was guardian to, previously told her mother that taking care of the twin boys was becoming overwhelming, say documents in the case.
Virginia Webb told detectives that her daughter, 55-year-old Dorothy Flood, confided that the boys were "becoming too much for her," according to a search warrant return that the Pima County Sheriff's Department filed in Superior Court on Monday.
Flood has been guardian to her twin grandchildren, Jaden and Jordon Webb, who are severely autistic and nonverbal, since the boys' mother Kristen Webb died in February 2017 at 37 years old.
The mother's autopsy says she died of toxicity from chlorpromazine, an antipsychotic drug. The Pima County Medical Examiner ruled the cause of her death an accident rather than a suicide.
Virginia Webb, the boys' great-grandmother, told detectives one of the children was having trouble sleeping the last six weeks due to asthma and a severe cough, the search warrant return says.
Webb, who lives next door to Flood in the 2400 block of West Kessler Place, near West Ruthrauff Road and North La Cholla Boulevard, told officers it was her routine to go over every school day at 7:30 a.m. to help get the boys ready for school, according to the document. On Thursday morning, before the boys were found dead, Webb went to her daughter's home at 7:30 a.m. and found her asleep.
The document says Flood woke up when Webb shook her, and Webb did not check on or hear the children. Webb returned to the home at 11 a.m. to find her daughter still sleeping and again at 3 p.m.
Webb told police that the last time she went into the home, Flood was face down in the living room and unresponsive. Webb called 911, and after paramedics with Northwest Fire arrived, she went into the boys' rooms and found them dead, the document says.
Webb told detectives Flood had a good relationship with the boys and she never saw her harm them. She also told police she doesn't think Flood was abusing medication or had a firearm, the document says. Sheriff's deputies found a small caliber handgun on the kitchen table.
The Department of Child Safety has no record on the family, and Flood has no previous criminal record in Pima County.
Flood was transported to the hospital with symptoms of an apparent overdose.
She was booked into the Pima County jail Friday on two counts of first-degree murder and is being held on a $250,000 bond.
