Several weeks before the tragic incident where a mother in California reportedly drove under the influence and left her four-year-old child to drown in a canal, the family of the child’s father revealed that she had issued a chilling warning to him. The warning conveyed that he would never get to see his daughter again, according to what the family shared with DailyMail.com.
The mother, Juliette Acosta, aged 26, allegedly chose to leave the accident scene and went to take a bath after the incident. The disturbing warning was delivered during a heated argument with her ex-partner, Gage Herrin, 27, with whom she had been embroiled in a contentious custody battle lasting four years.
Initially, the father did not perceive the warning as a genuine threat. However, tragically, events took a devastating turn when their daughter, Reagan Herrin, aged 4, was discovered deceased, leading to Juliette being charged with her murder.
Gage and members of his family don’t believe this was some drunken accident. They believe she killed the child on purpose.
‘Yeah, we all do,’ Gage’s older brother Chase told DailyMail.com on Monday. ‘You don’t put your kid in a car and then drive drunk like that for no reason.
‘She’s a very spiteful person,’ he continued, as he revealed the eerie exchange that he said his brother shared with him.
‘Juliette told Gage “You’ll never see your daughter again,”‘ said Chase, 29.
‘I mean, that literally came from her mouth. They were talking, and he was telling her that there’s a court date on a certain date.
Juliette Acosta, 26, was charged with second-degree murder after she allegedly drove drunk at three times the legal limit into a canal and left her four-year-old child to drown on March 9
Her baby daddy, 27-year-old Gage Herrin, received an ominous threat from Acosta that he would never see his daughter again weeks before her tragic death (pictured as a baby)
Reagan Herrin, 4, was left to die by her mother after her Subaru crashed into an irrigation canal
‘And she replied: “You could fight all you want, but you’ll never see your daughter again”.
‘And then, a few weeks later, here we are,’ added the brother, who lives in Hickman, just a couple miles away from where the crash took his niece’s life.
On Tuesday afternoon, Acosta, handcuffed and wearing an orange and white striped jail uniform, was ushered by guards into Stanislaus Superior Court in Modesto, in California’s Central Valley.
Acosta, who was arrested shortly after the March 9 crash, had her charges upgraded this past week to second-degree murder. She was due to be arraigned at the hearing but decided not to enter a plea. Her lawyer had the arrangement postponed to May 7.
The young mother was allegedly driving with her blood alcohol level at three times the legal limit the night she crashed her Subaru SUV into an irrigation canal. She then escaped, leaving her child trapped inside the vehicle.
The second-degree charge, as worded, accuses her of ‘malice aforethought murder.’ But notably, Acosta has not been accused of premeditated murder, which would constitute a first-degree charge.
Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com after the hearing, Acosta’s defense lawyer Gil Somera described the fatal crash as nothing more than a tragic accident and offered some new information he says can help prove there was nothing intentional.
He said there may have been debris on the road that contributed to the crash.
Acosta hasn’t been charged with premeditated murder, instead, ‘malice aforethought murder’. Her defense lawyer Gil Somera said debris on the road is what caused the crash
The site where Acosta’s SUV plunged into the water. The killer mom’s lawyer also said he believed she blacked out after hitting the water
‘It’s my understanding there is evidence of glass on the road prior,’ he told DailyMail.com.
He also said there are indications she blacked out after hitting the water.
‘I believe when she was pulled from the car, she was not conscious,’ he said.
He also wants to explore the possibility her plunge into the cold waters caused her to suffer hypothermia, which can affect brain function.
‘We have to get over the public’s outrage in wanting to persecute her, as if she intended to do this,’ Somera said. ‘Let’s just wait for all the evidence to come out.
‘You have a 26-year-old mother who is absolutely devastated that this happened,’ he continued. ‘Evidence will tell us if it was a misjudgment, an extreme misjudgment. But there was no intention.’
DailyMail.com can also reveal that the crash occurred just 600 feet from the home of Acosta’s uncle, Brandon Angle in Hickman, where she had been celebrating a birthday party for a family member.
The property borders the Turlock Canal where she crashed the car. She left the house with her daughter around 11pm and turned onto Arlberg Road, a short straightaway that leads to the canal.
Police alleged she was swerving her Subaru SUV all over the road, sideswiped a pole then drove up an embankment and into the irrigation canal at about 11pm
The home of Brandon Angle, Acosta’s uncle, who lives only 600 feet from where the crash occurred – the same house Acosta had been celebrating a birthday party
Gage’s brother Chase told DailyMail.com on Monday that Acosta was a ‘spiteful person’ and revealed that her threat to her baby daddy was said while they dicussed an upcoming custody case
Before actually reaching the canal, she was supposed to turn left on to Canal Bank Road. Instead of making the turn, she drove across the road, up an embankment, and right into the canal.
Her uncle, who was home at the time, heard the crash and ran over to try to save the mother and daughter from the upturned vehicle. He rescued Acosta but wasn’t able to get the little girl, who was left trapped in her car seat.
Reagan was eventually pulled out by a California Highway Patrol officer with help from Acosta’s uncle, who had clambered out of the car.
Acosta left the scene. She was later found ‘taking a bath’ while her ‘daughter remained in peril at the crash scene,’ police said, though her defense attorney has denied this claim.
Acosta was initially charged with drunken driving. She was bailed out, then re-arrested Friday and ordered held without bail.
On Tuesday, she sat silent and somber with straggly bleach blond hair during her brief court appearance. A few dozen family members filled several rows of the courtroom to offer support.
Among them was her grandmother, Kathleen Acosta, who teared up when asked about the fatal crash earlier in the day.
‘It’s just a tragic accident, that’s what it was,’ she told DailyMail.com. ‘A tragic accident, nothing more.
Acosta’s family embrace outside the courtroom after her Tuesday hearing wrapped up at the Stanislaus Superior Court in Modesto. She is being held without bail
Juliette Acosta won full legal custody and a restraining order against the father in 2020, who was granted only periodic, supervised visits
‘We could have lost three,’ she cried, noting that Juliette and Brandon made it back to safety. ‘We lost one.’
Chase Herrin told DailyMail.com that he was home when the crash happened.
‘I heard the sirens go by that night when I was laying in my bed, and I thought, “Man, I know a lot of people out there, I hope it’s not someone I care about,”‘ he recalled.
He’s now mourning the loss of a niece he barely got to know. He attended the funeral last month with his younger brother Gage, who spent years fighting for custody, receiving it a day after her death.
With the mother under arrest, the court granted him the burial rights, effectively ending their four-year legal battle.
‘Respondent, Gage Houston James Herrin, shall have the legal authority over Reagan Herrin’s body and disposition,’ the court ruled.
‘The mediation hearing scheduled for May 6, 2025, at 8.30am, is hereby vacated.’
Court files show a long and bitter Family Court battle that started shortly after Reagan was born.
In her application for the restraining order, Acosta accused her ex of being verbally and physically abusive throughout their relationship
After a four-year-long court battle, Gage finally received custody a day after Reagen died and was given the burial rights for her body
Juliette Acosta won full legal custody and a restraining order against the father, who was granted only periodic, supervised visits.
In her application for a restraining order in 2020, Acosta accused her ex of being verbally and physically abusive throughout their relationship, including during and after her pregnancy.
She described him allegedly berating her and smashing objects, shoving her to the ground, pinning her against a wall and leaving her bruised.
After their breakup, she alleged, he continued to play a role in Reagan’s life, spending several hours a day with her, but putting her at risk with his angry, impulsive behavior while housing her in filthy, dangerous situations with no food or milk.
‘I am concerned for my safety and our young infant daughter’s safety, particularly after respondent becomes aware that I am seeking orders related to child custody and visitation,’ she wrote.
Gage Herrin, in court papers, denied her allegations and portrayed himself as a doting father willing to make changes when pointed out. He also took a shot at her parenting, alleging a drunken episode where she had to ‘pump and dump her breast milk due to alcohol toxicity in her breast milk.’
He lost custody and had been seeking expanded visitation rights for the duration of Reagan’s life.
Reached by DailyMail.com, the grieving father, who once worked for an Acosta family business, declined to discuss the case and said he was trying to stay focused on bringing a new child into this world with his now pregnant girlfriend.
But he has already been interviewed multiple times by investigators.
‘I told all my thoughts to the DA,’ he said, ‘so they have my written statements.’
