Ontario mother kills son, then self

ONTARIO – A mother beat her 11-year-old son to death with a hammer and then killed herself Friday night, according to the Ontario Police Department.

An autopsy of the mother, Libia Lopez, 41, and her son, Eddie Lopez, might not happen until next week, police said. The Lopezes were found dead inside their residence, a backyard shed on the 900 block at East Rosewood Court. On Monday, the San Bernardino County Coroner’s Office identified them. The boy’s age, according to the report, “was possibly 11.”

On Tuesday, Ontario police Sgt. Dave McBride said police are not looking for a suspect since the deaths are being investigated as a murder-suicide.

Police were called to the home shortly before 8 p.m. Feb. 18 by a concerned neighbor who said she saw what might be a dead woman on the floor of a converted shed. Another neighbor told police he did not know Libia Lopez, but saw the mother and son in the neighborhood.

The coroner’s report says preliminary evidence suggests Libia Lopez bludgeoned her son with a hammer before she took her own life. Police say she cut her own throat with a knife after trying to overdose on several anti-depressant pills.

“We have some evidence that indicates this might have been planned,” said McBride, adding that the hammer and knife were recovered at the scene.

McBride said police have not located the father of the boy, who was living with his mother in an eight-foot-by-12-foot shed that had been converted into their residence.

Police are looking for a motive, which could be that they were facing eviction. McBride said interviews conducted in recent days suggest that eviction might not be the cause.

“Right now,” he said, “we’re still investigating the case.”

The front house was vacant, McBride added.