COMPTON – The parents and grandmother of a 7-year-old boy who was found dead inside a freezer in a Lynwood apartment were charged Friday with murder and other counts.
The mother, 25-year-old Destiny Harrison; father Daniel Monzon, also 25; and grandmother, Ana Zarceno-Carcamo, 45, were all expected to be arraigned sometime Friday in Compton.
All three were charged with murder, torture and willful cruelty to a child, with an allegation of willful harm resulting in death. Monzon and Zarceno-Carcamo were also charged with being an accessory after the fact.
Deputies from the sheriff’s department Century Station responded around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday to the apartment in the 3100 block of Euclid Avenue, west of Peach Street to conduct a welfare check requested by an unidentified resident who went to the sheriff’s station, LASD Sgt. Nancy Veliz told City News Service.
Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics were called to the scene and pronounced the boy dead at the scene. It was unclear how the child — identified by prosecutors only as Isaiah H. — died.
Authorities detained the boy’s mother, father and grandmother at the scene, where three additional children were also found. Those children — aged 9, 13, and 16 months — were taken into protective custody by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
Harrison, Monzon and Zarceno-Carcamo were all being held in lieu of $2 million bail.
“This is an unimaginable and horrific tragedy,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement Wednesday. “I stand ready to support the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as they investigate this child’s death. My heart breaks for what the other children in this home must have experienced, and it’s critical that our Department of Children and Family Services do everything possible to support them and keep them safe in protective custody.”
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact the sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Callers who prefer to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org.
