Granddaughter allegedly thrown to her death

December 01, 2010|Associated Press

McLEAN, Va. — A Virginia grandmother threw her 2-year-old granddaughter several stories to her death from a walkway at a shopping mall after a family outing, police said yesterday.

Carmela Dela Rosa, 50, of Fairfax was arrested and charged yesterday with murder, said prosecutor Ian Rodway, the chief deputy Commonwealth’s attorney.

The child, Angelyn Ogdoc, died in a hospital after plunging to the pavement Monday night. She fell from a walkway linking the mall’s third floor to the parking garage’s sixth floor at Tysons Corner Center in Fairfax, a Washington suburb in Virginia.

Investigators believe Dela Rosa threw the child over a railing but do not know why, said Tawny Wright, Fairfax County police spokeswoman. Wright said the toddler and Dela Rosa were leaving the mall with family at the time.

Dela Rosa was being held without bond, and a preliminary hearing in the case was set for Jan. 4, Rodway said. A public defender will be assigned to the case.

One of Dela Rosa’s neighbors, Russell Jackson, described them as “a happy family’’ and said Dela Rosa lived with her husband and a son, but that their daughter and granddaughter were frequently at the home.

Jackson, who lives in a row house next door to the family, said the grandparents would often take care of the toddler.