LOS ANGELES — A woman arrested in connection with the slaying of her three children at their San Fernando Valley apartment was embroiled in a tense child custody dispute, according to the children’s father and court documents.

Liliana Carrillo, 30, was arrested Saturday in Tulare County after fleeing the scene and leading law enforcement officers on a long-distance chase in which she allegedly carjacked a pickup truck in Bakersfield, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The children’s grandmother had called police earlier after she discovered the children — ages 3, 2 and 6 months — dead at their apartment complex in Reseda and their mother gone, authorities said. Initial reports indicated the children had been stabbed, but authorities have not confirmed a cause of death.

Erik Denton, the father of the children — two girls and a boy — sought custody of them on March 1, according to Tulare County family court documents online.

Denton requested a temporary emergency visitation order from the family court in Porterville on March 4 and petitioned for a mental health evaluation of Carrillo, according to court documents. Orders were drawn up at a March 26 hearing. Another hearing in the case was scheduled for April 14.

In response, Carrillo sought a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Denton on March 12 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, according to court documents.

In a brief interview with the Los Angeles Times, Denton confirmed he was the father of the three children and said he’d been in a custody battle with Carrillo after she began acting mentally unstable.

Denton said he tried to get local authorities to intervene, but “in LA they wouldn’t help. The LAPD would not get involved.”

Story Date: April 14, 2021