UPDATE: An autopsy was performed this afternoon on the 12 year old boy. The cause of death is ruled as fresh water drowning. The 7 year old boy is still in critical condition at Valley Children’s Hospital. -Tulare County Sheriff’s Office.
TULARE COUNTY, CA (KMJ) – A decade after an alleged attempted drowning, a Strathmore woman is arrested for the death of one son and critically injuring the other.
45-year-old Sherri Telnas is believed to be responsible for the death of her 12-year-old son, Jackson and the hospitalization of her other son, 7-year-old Jacob Ray Telnas.
At around 5:25 a.m. Sunday, Deputies from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office received a call that the boys’ mother was acting suspiciously.
The caller told authorities Telnas had taken her two children to a field across the street.
While deputies were on their way to the 18900 block of Avenue 184 near Porterville they were notified two children were found unresponsive in a full irrigation ditch near a field.
Both boys were taken to the hospital where 12-year-old Jackson died from unknown injuries and 7-year-old Jacob continues to be in critical condition.
The previous incident took place in 2008 in Mineral County, Montana.
Back then, The Mineral Independent reported that the 34-year-old mother allegedly attempted to drown her son Jackson, who was 10-months-old at the time.
According to records, Telnas told officers at the hospital, “I tried to drown my baby.”
Medical reports showed the child had been submerged under water “for an appreciable period of time and had water in his lungs,” seen in an X-ray photograph.
The child had been released into his father’s care, and at the time the father, Jacob Telnas, 25, had full custody of his son.
In 2008, Telnas had been charged with attempted deliberate homicide in Mineral County District Court.
As part of a plea agreement then with the Mineral County Attorney’s Office, Telnas pleaded no contest to two charges of criminal endangerment.
Telnas was taken into custody without incident on Sunday in Tulare County.
An autopsy will be performed on the 12-year-old to determine his cause of death.
Anyone with information on this current case is encouraged to contact the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Unit Det. Miguel Franco or Sergeant Gary Marks at (559) 802-9563 or (800) 808-0488. Anonymous information about this crime can be reported via Tipnow email tcso@tipnow.net, text or voicemail at 559-725-4194, or download the Tipnow app for Android or Apple phones.
Click to hear the report by KMJ’s Liz Kern:
