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Toni
Elizabeth TORRES
Classification: Homicide
Characteristics: Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, confessed to
authorities when she was arrested, "God told me to do it."
Number of victims: 1
Date of murder:
August 21, 2003
Date of arrest:
Next day
Date of birth: 1974
Victim profile: Her
17 month-old son, Alex Torres
Method of murder:
Drowning
Location: Ottawa
County, Oklahoma, USA
Status:
Found insane in 2004
August 21, 2003: Toni Elizabeth Torres,
29, of Quapaw, Oklahoma; Torres went to a remote area and climbed
into Spring River holding her 17 month-old son, Alex, and holding
onto the hand of her 10-yr-old son, Christopher. As she went
deeper into the water, she let go of Christopher's hand but he
managed to get back to the shore and started screaming.
A
fisherman who was on the river at the time called 9-1-1 after
hearing the children scream. Torres continued to swim into the
middle of the channel. There she pushed the toddler away, watched
him briefly bob up and down and then swam to the opposite shore.
She had said she killed the infant because God told her to let her
son go in the water. Torres was under a psychiatrist’s care at the
time. A blood test revealed the presence of Diazepam, an
anti-anxiety medication, according to authorities.
Mother found insane in toddler's death to be released to halfway
house
By Sheila Stogsdill - TulsaWorld.com
August 12, 2011
MIAMI, Okla. -- An Ottawa
County woman, found insane in the 2003 drowning death of her
17-month-old son, will be allowed to leave a mental hospital, a
prosecutor said Friday.
District Judge Robert Haney signed the order
Thursday ruling that Tony Elizabeth Torres, 37, was not a danger
to society.
"She is still under the control of the state
Department of Mental Health," Haney said Friday. "She is not
allowed to be unsupervised with children."
Torres is no longer being housed at the
Oklahoma Forensic Center, said Becky Baird, Ottawa County
assistant district attorney. She will be sent to a residential
halfway home outside of Ottawa County.
Alex Torres' body was found submerged in about
20 feet of water in Spring River, about four miles north of Twin
Bridges State Park in northern Ottawa County on Aug. 21, 2003.
Tony Torres was found on a riverbank, and her son Brandon, who was
10 at the time, was found sitting on an opposite side of the river
screaming for help.
According to Tony Torres' statement to
investigators, the toddler was clinging to her as she waded across
the river. She pushed the child away to save herself, making no
effort to save him from drowning.
This is not the first time Torres has appeared
before Haney requesting a release.
Court records show Torres has requested to be
released on day passes or similar situations on four occasions
since November 2006. In all four requests, including the request
dated June 8, the state has objected to her release, District
Attorney Eddie Wyant said.
Haney did allow Torres out to attend the August
2010 funeral of her son Brandon Wayne McKibben, 17, who died after
being electrocuted.
In 2004 Haney declared the Quapaw woman insane
on a first-degree murder charge. Torres, who was diagnosed with
bipolar disorder, confessed to authorities when she was arrested,
"God told me to do it."
Torres has a master's degree in psychology,
court records show, and once worked as a counselor for troubled
youths.
On a county intake sheet, filled out Aug. 23,
2003, the woman wrote: “God shed his blood for me. All they do is
ask me, and I will tell them the truth, even if it sounds crazy. I
won't let people corrupt my spirit with the law. Amen.”
Under the space for a defendant's name, she
wrote: “God.” Under legal guardian, she wrote: “God”.
