Moms who kill: Notable cases of Texas mothers who killed their children

Here are some notable Texas cases in which women killed their children and in some instances committed suicide. Some of the moms were found not guilty by reason of insanity:

Angela Camacho of Brownsville was sentenced in 2005 to three life terms in prison after pleading guilty to killing her three children in 2003 because she believed they were evil. Camacho and John Allen Rubio, the father of two of the children, were accused of suffocating, stabbing and decapitating Julissa Quezada, 3, John Esthefan Rubio, 1, and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months. Rubio was convicted and is now on Death Row.

Tina Marie Cornelius threw her two toddlers off a cliff north of Austin in 1999. The judge in the case ordered a psychiatric evaluation after Cornelius claimed she had seen and heard her dead children in her cell. She was convicted in 2000 and is serving a 60-year sentence.

Lisa Ann Diaz of Plano was arrested Sept. 25, 2003, in the drowning deaths of her daughters Kamryn, 3, and Briana, 5. Diaz apparently attempted suicide by cutting her wrists and stabbing herself before police arrived. In August 2004, Diaz was found not guilty by reason of insanity of a count of capital murder in the death of Briana. She was released from a state hospital in November 2006 and put into an out-treatment patient program.

Gilberta Estrada with Maria Teresa Estrada, left, and Janet Frayre.

Gilberta “Berta” Estrada hanged her four children and herself in May 2007 inside their trailer home in Parker County. The mother died, along with Maria Estrada, 5; Yaneth "Janet" Frayre, 3; and Magaly Frayre, 21 months. Eight-month old Evelyn Frayre, who was hanging by the sleeve of a sweater, survived.

Deanna Laney of Tyler bludgeoned two of her sons to death with rocks and severely injured the third on Mother’s Day 2003. Laney said she was following God’s orders. She was acquitted by reason of insanity of capital murder and serious injury to a child. Laney is in Rusk State Hospital indefinitely.

Valerie Maxon

Valeria Maxon of Mansfield was arrested in June 2006 in connection with the drowning of her son Alex, 1, in the family’s backyard hot tub. She had been found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent a few years in a state hospital before being released to community outpatient treatment in Fort Worth in August 2014. She left a few weeks later and a warrant for her arrest was issued in October 2014. Last month she was placed on the Tarrant County most wanted list.

Dee Etta Perez fatally shot her three children, Sergio, 10, Diego, 9, and Bianca, 4, in their Hudson Oaks home in July 2002, then wounded her estranged husband and killed herself.

Guadalupe Ronquillo-Ovalle of Rice shot and killed her husband Israel Alvarez, and her three boys, ages 4, 6 and 10, before killing herself at their home in September 2013.

Darlie Routier

Darlie Routier was convicted of capital murder in the stabbing deaths of her two sons, Devon, 6, and Damon, 5 in Rowlett in June 1996. She contends someone broke into her home, stabbed her sons and slashed her. She is on Death Row.

Dena Schlosser

Dena Schlosser of Plano was arrested Nov. 22, 2004, in the death of her 10-month old daughter, Margaret Elizabeth Schlosser. Schlosser severed her daughter’s arms with a knife. She was found not guilty of capital murder by reason of insanity and placed in a mental hospital. She was released from state care in 2008 and recommitted to a state hospital in 2010. In June 2012 she was fired from her job at Walmart in Terrell.

Angelica Vazquez of Mesquite shot her husband Marcelo and their two children, Paulina and Alejandro, in March 2013. Paulina was a student at the University of North Texas and home on spring break.

Andrea Yates was convicted in 2002 of capital murder in three of the drowning deaths of her five children, ages 6 months to 7 years, in the bathtub of the family’s Houston home in 2001. She was not tried for the deaths of the two others. Psychiatrists testified that Yates had schizophrenia and postpartum depression. She was sentenced to life in prison. In 2005 an appeals court overturned the verdict, and in 2006, a second jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. She was sent to a state mental hospital, where she remains.

This article contains information from Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published March 21, 2016 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Moms who kill: Notable cases of Texas mothers who killed their children."