SUPERIOR — A 20-year-old mother was being held Tuesday on a $2 million bond on suspicion of first-degree murder after her two children were found dead in car seats inside a car, officials said.
The bodies were found outside the family’s home in Superior, a historic mining town of about 2,900 people about 100 miles north of Tucson.
Superior Interim Police Chief Christian Ensley said members of his department had called the Arizona Department of Child Safety in early January because of concerns about the two children.
The state agency confirmed Tuesday it had received two calls about the children, including the one in January.
“The children showed no visible signs of abuse or neglect,” the agency said. “There were no legal grounds to remove the children from the parent’s custody.”
Autopsies were being conducted to determine causes of death of the 2-year-old boy and 10-month-old girl and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately disclose what evidence had been found.
The mother was identified as Brittany Velasquez, 20. She was jailed and authorities did not know whether she had a lawyer who could comment on the allegations, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Navideh Forghani. The names of the children were not immediately made public.
A $2 million bond was set during a Tuesday hearing at the Pinal County Adult Detention Facility. Velasquez is scheduled to next appear before a judge on April 30.
Ensley provided few details during an afternoon news conference, including how the children may have died. He said the mother made the initial call to authorities. Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, whose office is helping the Superior Police Department with the investigation, said he was unaware of any stab or gunshot wounds to the children.
During the afternoon news conference, Ensley and Lamb declined to discuss a possible motive in the case.
Ensley said the children’s father died last year and that he knew many members of the Velasquez family.
The killings were bound to have a real impact on the tight community, the acting police chief added. “This is a real blow,” he said. “This doesn’t happen often.”
