A Durango woman is suspected of trying to kill herself and her two children by placing towels under the doors, closing the windows and turning on the gas.
Grisel Xahuentitla-Flores, 29, was being held Wednesday at the La Plata County jail on two counts of attempted first-degree murder.
Formal charges are expected to be filed this morning.
According to incident reports and an interview with police, Xahuentitla-Flores put her two daughters, ages 3 and 9, to bed the night of July 28. She sealed off the house, turned on the gas stove and went to bed, said Lt. Ray Shupe, with the Durango Police Department.
The incident occurred at a single-story house with two bedrooms and one bathroom in the east 200 block of 14th Street, near Ben’s Big Burgers.
Someone reported a strong odor of gas emanating from the house at 7:30 a.m. the next morning. The person also observed towels wedged under the doors in the house, according to a police incident report.
Police arrived and asked Xahuentitla-Flores to come to the door. The children also were inside. All three wore pajamas.
Police asked Xahuentitla-Flores to get her children and come outside.
The woman at first denied turning on the gas but later admitted to it.
She told police her husband, Mauro Zacamolpa, was arrested a few days earlier for domestic violence. He was the main provider for the family, she recently lost her job, she had no money and her daughters were always hungry, she told police.
Zacamolpa was in danger of being deported to Mexico after being arrested for domestic violence, he told police, according to another incident report. He had been deported once before, and it took him about 1½ years to return to Durango.
Xahuentitla-Flores and her children were taken to area hospitals. At Mercy Regional Medical Center, Xahuentitla-Flores told staff members that she withdrew the remaining $140 from her bank account and took her children to Farmington for a movie, ice cream and to enjoy the park. She wanted them to “have the best day ever” before she “went to sleep and never woke up again,” according to an incident report that contains statements she made at Mercy.
She picked up NyQuil to help herself and her children sleep through the night.
She put the children to bed in her room and attempted to open a gas line in the room. Her children questioned what she was doing, and she told them it would help keep them warm.
Xahuentitla-Flores realized the gas line was inactive, so she closed the valve. After the children fell asleep, she turned on the gas stove.
She unplugged nearly all the electronics in the house, including the air conditioner, refrigerator, table lamps and a television in the children’s room. A smoke detector mounted on the wall outside the bedroom was removed and sat on top of her nightstand.
She slept through the night, waking the next morning believing she had been given a second chance, and it was a sign everything would be OK.
She opened a door and windows to ventilate the house.
The children, who experienced headaches, were treated and released. They have been turned over to the Department of Human Services.
Police obtained three suicide letters written in Spanish – one addressed to Xahuentitla-Flores’ family, one addressed to her husband and the other stating what to do with her possessions.
Xahuentitla-Flores is being held on $50,000 bail.
shane@durangoherald.com
