
A Florida woman’s apparent killing prompted a check-up on her 5-year-old twins after their mother’s suicide death, whose lifeless bodies were found Friday at home in an apparent homicide.
At a news conference later on Friday, Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma revealed the sad chain of events, stating his investigators are convinced a “murder-suicide situation” is at play.
The mother, Catorreia Hutto, 31, was reportedly seen by witnesses driving to the “crest” of the Lake Jessup Bridge in Oviedo at 8:45 in the morning, stopping, getting out, and jumping. Later, Lemma claimed, her lifeless, floating body was removed from the ocean.
Then, according to him, deputies went to the twins’ Sanford home to see how they were doing. The sheriff claimed that the precise manner of the children’s deaths was unknown, despite the fact that the mother was blamed when the case was classified as a murder-suicide by the prosecutor’s office.
Lemma reported that the twins looked to be sleeping and that there was no sign of injury or blood. The bridge is about 28 miles north of downtown Orlando; the home is around 7 miles north of it.
Deputies who went to Hutto’s house and discovered the couple would not have known they were dead, according to Lemma, if they had not checked the vital signs.
Although a gun was discovered on the ground with live bullets close by, the children did not appear to have been shot, the sheriff added. He claimed that no ammunition cases were seen, either empty or fired.
An autopsy might reveal the children’s cause and manner of death within 48 hours, according to a coroner’s official, although information may be withheld by investigators if they keep looking into the case.
Lemma stated the twins were publicly recognized despite the fact that officials were unable to contact their father.
According to the sheriff, Hutto obtained her home from Habitat for Humanity, a charity recognized for constructing homes and distributing them to those whose income made it impossible for them to purchase one.
Hutto reportedly moved in a little more than a year ago, according to NBC station WESH of Daytona Beach.
It had “not much food,” Lemma said, and was modestly furnished.
He claimed Hutto was performing clerical work for a temp agency and had just finished his most recent assignment. “The family might find itself struggling financially,” he explained.
The sheriff claimed that the family had not received any reports to his agency or the Florida Department of Children and Families, but there were no obvious symptoms of a quick deterioration.
“Nobody that we know had a clue that she might be in this dire state,” Lemma continued.
He claimed that the twins’ mother had battled depression throughout her life, according to the twins’ grandmother.
When contacted for comment, the Florida Department of Children and Families took some time to react. The two were recognized as kindergarteners by the children’s school district, UCP (Unlocking Children’s Potential) Charter Schools, in a statement to WESH.
The tragic deaths of two of the kindergarten students at our Seminole County campus have surprised and grieved the whole UCP community, CEO and Superintendent Ilene E. Wilkins stated in a statement.
Latoshia Reynolds, a neighbor, asked the station if Hutto ever felt alone.
She said, “I am utterly heartbroken. “I am sympathetic. I’m not required to know her. My own daughter may not have had somebody to turn to, which is the first thing that occurs to me.