Mother Arrested for Murder of Three-Year-Old Son

By Sarah Harper

Published on May 29, 2009

On Thursday Police arrested Tiffany Toribio, the 23-year-old mother charged with murdering her 3-year-old son Ty on an Albuquerque, New Mexico playground.Toribio faces charges of first-degree murder, abuse of a child under 12 that caused death, and other charges.

Toribio allegedly suffocated Ty, then, when she had second thoughts about killing the child, she resuscitated him with CPR. Finally, she completed the suffocation. She then buried Ty's body in a shallow grave in the playground.

When his body was discovered last Friday, authorities released composite images of the child in hopes of gaining leads in the case. Toribio's neighbors reported that Ty matched the description, and authorities arrested Toribio. She confessed to the murder soon after her arrest.

Toribio claimed she was motivated by a desire to protect Ty from feeling unwanted, a feeling she had experienced as a child. According to the Albuquerque police chief, Toribio's family claimed she did not express the typical love of a mother toward her child.

Toribio is detained until her trial, and is on suicide watch.

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