Photo: GoFundMe
A California mother was arrested Saturday after she allegedly killed her 12-year-old son and seriously injured his younger brother.
Sherri Renee Telnas, 45, had allegedly previously attempted to drown the older son, Jackson Telnas, 11 years earlier in Montana’s Clark Fork River, according to Mineral County Sheriff Mike Boone.
Boone said Telnas admitted to attempting to drown her then 10-month-old son in 2008 because “bad thoughts or voices told her to do so,” according to the release.
According to Boone, the boy had since fully recovered and was living with his father.
Tulare County (California) Sheriff’s Office Lt. Kevin Kemmerling tells PEOPLE his office is “working with multiple agencies to confirm the details” of the previous attempted drowning.
Tulare County Sheriff’s Department
On Saturday, according to a Tulare County Sheriff’s Office press release, deputies responded to the 18900 block of Avenue 184 in Porterville regarding a suspicious circumstance around 5:30 a.m.
A 911 caller allegedly told dispatchers that a woman — later identified as Telnas — was “acting strangely” as she walked with two boys to a field across the street. The boys were found unresponsive in an irrigation ditch near a cornfield.
Both children were taken to a local hospital, where Jackson died. An autopsy is pending and his cause of death hasn’t been determined yet.
Jacob, 7, is listed in critical condition, according to the press release.
Charges against Telnas have yet to be filed, according to the Tulare County district attorney’s office.
The boys’ uncle Tim Telnas described Jackson as “very smart, clever, quick-witted, and he was definitely a people person,” according to KFSN.
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Telnas is currently being held without bail. She has a court appearance scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
source: people.com
