Mother convicted of murdering her 18-month-old daughter
25-year-to-life prison term
LANCASTER, Calif.—A Quartz Hill woman convicted of murder and other charges in the death of her 18-month-old daughter, whom she initially claimed was taken from her in a violent kidnapping, is facing a 25-year-to-life prison term.
Stacey Marie Barker, now 26, is set to be sentenced June 17 by Superior Court Judge Hayden Zacky for the March 18, 2009, slaying of her daughter, Emma.
Barker was convicted late Tuesday of one count each of first-degree murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse, according to Deputy District Attorney S. Kelly Cromer.
Authorities said the woman initially lied to investigators about the circumstances of the toddler's death.
Barker told Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies that someone knocked her out as she was putting her daughter into a car seat on the evening of March 19, and that she awoke hours later at a park-and-ride lot in Palmdale with injuries to her head, ribs, hand and genital area, authorities said.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department launched a 12-hour manhunt for the girl following Barker's report that the youngster had been kidnapped.
Barker later told deputies that her daughter had died accidentally—after mobile phone records showed she had been driving in the Los Angeles area at the time of the alleged attack—and that she had dumped the girl's body in a Sylmar lot filled with weeds.
The girl suffered injuries consistent with suffocation caused by a hand being placed over the girl's nose and mouth, according to the District Attorney's Office.
LANCASTER, Calif.—A Quartz Hill woman was sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison for the March 2009 death of her 18-month-old daughter, whom she initially claimed was taken from her in a violent kidnapping.
Superior Court Judge Hayden Zacky imposed the term on Stacey Marie Barker, 26, who was convicted May 24 of first-degree murder, assault on a child causing death and child abuse for the March 18, 2009, slaying of her daughter, Emma.
PALMDALE, Calif.—A 41-year-old man who was walking in the middle of a street in Palmdale in 38-degree weather early yesterday morning tried to take a gun from a sheriff’s deputy who had stopped to help him and bit off a “significant part” of the deputy’s ear, authorities said.
The bizarre attack occurred at 3:44 a.m. in the 200 block of East Palmdale Boulevard, according to sheriff’s Palmdale Station Detective Mike Baker.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A state appellate court panel is set next month to hear arguments in the case of an ex-security guard convicted of murdering an 18-year-old woman in a Palmdale park-and-ride lot, where he worked more than a decade ago.
On Oct. 27, the three-justice panel from the 2nd District Court of Appeal is set to consider an appeal filed on behalf of Raymond Lee Jennings, who was convicted in December 2009 of second-degree murder for the Feb. 22, 2000, slaying of Antelope Valley College student Michelle O’Keefe.
LANCASTER, Calif.—Sheriff's deputies confirmed that firefighters found the body of a woman inside a two-story home in the Quartz Hill section of Lancaster after a fire brought under control.
The fire was reported at 5:15 p.m. Sunday in the 42000 block of 56th Street West, Supervisor Michael Pittman of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
The blaze was under control by 5:26 p.m.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, said the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.
PALMDALE, Calif.—A Palmdale woman and her live-in boyfriend were in custody today on suspicion of the beating death of her 2-year-old son, authorities said.
Jennifer Zolorzano, 19, and Joe Hickman, 21, were both being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
According to the sheriff’s department, the woman took her son to a hospital early Saturday morning for treatment of “head injuries she alleged occurred when the child slipped and fell while taking a bath.”
