Graciela Castellanos, accused of drowning daughter in Van Nuys neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, police say

VAN NUYS, LOS ANGELES — New details were revealed in the tragic death of a 7-year-old girl in Los Angeles on Friday.

ABC Los Angeles affiliate KABC spoke with the suspect’s fiancé, who is still in shock and grieving.

The authorities have identified the mother of the child, Graciela Castellanos, aged 37, as the main suspect in the death of the young girl. She is being accused of deliberately drowning her own daughter in the Van Nuys area.

A neighbor told KABC she heard the young child screaming, “Mommy, please no. Mommy, please no.”

Soon after, Los Angeles police and paramedics arrived to the apartment in the 6800 block of Sepulveda Boulevard around 5:40 p.m. Friday.

First responders found the child unresponsive in the bathtub. She was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Castellanos was arrested and booked into jail. Her bail was set at $2 million.

Her fiancé, who asked that his identity be concealed, spoke to KABC reporter Leo Stallworth.

“I want to emphasize that my wife was a near-perfect mother. She never used harsh language, raised her voice at the girl, or resorted to physical discipline,” he stated in Spanish. “She was the most caring mother one could ever imagine.”

The partner mentioned that he returned home around 7 p.m., after the tragic incident had occurred and the police were already on-site. He explained that Castellanos struggles with mental and emotional health issues that sometimes lead her to shout and isolate herself until she regains composure. However, he insisted that she had never shown any signs of violence during these episodes.

“I never got to the apartment and saw the girl, or her,” he said. “I got home after all of it happened. This happened at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. and I got home at almost 7 on the dot.”

He says they were set to get married in about two months and afterward, he planned to adopt Castellanos’ 7-year-old daughter. That is, until the worst happened.

The fiancé told KABC he believes what triggered Castellanos to allegedly drown her daughter was a deep depression after she found out she might not become a legal resident. He added that he thinks she was the sweetest person in the world and never harmed her daughter — allegedly, until now.

LAPD did not release further details about what exactly led up to the child’s death. The investigation is ongoing.

Copyright © 2025 KABC Television, LLC. All rights reserved.

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