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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Two children were killed at the Hampton Inn Suites on Grand and Dyer in Santa Ana said Anthony Bertagn, with the Santa Ana Police Department. The mother of the children allegedly tried to commit suicide by ramming her car into a utility box behind a shopping center in Costa Mesa, Calif., Saturday Sept. 14, 2013. (AP Photo/Orange County Register, Mindy Schauer) /
SANTA ANA, Calif. » Two children found dead in a Southern California hotel room after their suicidal mother crashed her car outside a shopping complex were a 13-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl, a police spokesman said.
The children’s mother, Marilyn Edge, 42, of Scottsdale, Ariz., was arrested Saturday and booked on suspicion of murder in the deaths, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.
Further information, including the names of the children, the motive and the cause of death, was not being released, he said. The children’s father lives out-of-state and was not notified of their deaths until Sunday.
Edge was driving a car with Georgia license plates when she crashed into an electrical box outside a shopping complex in Costa Mesa on Saturday morning. Her most recent address was in Arizona, Bertagna said, and it wasn’t immediately clear why she had come to Orange County.
After the crash, Edge refused to get out of the car and tried to choke herself with a belt or rope as rescuers worked to free her, he said. Police found propane in Edge’s car.
As she was being taken to the hospital, Edge told authorities they could find her children at a hotel in nearby Santa Ana. After officers discovered the bodies, police obtained a search warrant late Saturday for the hotel room and worked overnight on the case, Bertagna said.
"Last night, it was mainly trying to figure out who these people were and dealing with the scene itself," he said.
No weapon had been recovered from the scene, Bertagna said.
Hotel guests were stunned at the discovery at the quiet inn on a sunny weekend in Southern California.
"My goodness, if there’s two children involved that’s just horrendous to say the least," Mike Ramey, who was staying at the hotel with his fianc?e, told KABC-TV. "As a parent, it’s just a heartbreaker."
It wasn’t immediately clear if Edge had an attorney. She has not yet made a court appearance.
