(Jan. 21, 2015) Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, mother Lucero Carrera, 29, is currently on trial in California for the drowning of her two-month-old daughter, Kimberly Gutierrez in 2012 (“'I drowned her': Mental state a focus in trial of mother accused of drowning 2-month-old daughter,” OC Register, Jan. 14).
The two-month old was discovered floating face down in the bathtub by her grandmother, who came home to find the young mother alone in her bedroom.
During questioning by police and paramedics, Carrera “was barely able to answer the questions posed by police and paramedics...and appeared to be suffering from psychosis.”
"I held her down. I drowned her in the bathtub," Carrera told detectives. "So she wouldn’t suffer what I suffered."
Carrera had a history of suicide attempts and had undergone hospitalization after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder over a decade ago. She cycled back and forth between manic and depressive episodes every six months, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Jim Mendelson.
She had taken her bipolar medication as prescribed throughout her pregnancy, but stopped after Kimberly’s birth, in what could have been a fatal mistake.
The Treatment Advocacy Center’s recently updated backgrounder on untreated serious mental illness and dangerousness emphasizes that most acts of violence committed by individuals with serious mental illness are carried out when they are not being treated.
Had Carrera continued treatment for her bipolar disorder, Kimberly Gutierrez may still be alive today.
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