Authorities: California mother killed young daughter with overdose before taking own life

Police: Mother killed young daughter with overdose

SONOMA, Calif. — Investigators believe a mother who was found dead along with her 6-year-old daughter fatally drugged the child before killing herself with an overdose in an apparent murder-suicide, authorities said.

Autopsy results released Monday showed Amy Beam and her daughter Anjelee Sanchez of Sonoma both died from an overdose.

Beam and Sanchez were found lying next to each other in bed at their home on Friday, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Lt. Chris Spallino said. Investigators said they had been dead for about four days.

Dozens of pills were discovered near the bodies. Interviews with friends and notes left behind by Beam led investigators to believe she killed Sanchez before taking her own life, said Spallino. He would not elaborate on what the notes said, or specify which drugs were found.

The results of toxicology tests are not expected for several weeks.

Four counselors from the Sonoma Valley school district helped children deal with their grief at Prestwood Elementary School, where Anjelee was a first-grade student.

“She was a wonderful little girl,” Prestwood Principal Beth Wolk said. “She was a good student, a great reader.”

This is the second time tragedy hit this school in less than three months. Grace and Aiden Maloney, 5, and 8, and their parents, John and Susan Maloney, died when their minivan was hit by a speeding driver in November.