Two toddler sisters are missing after their mother was found dead of a gunshot wound that police believe was inflicted by their father, authorities in California said.
Deputies from the Kings County Sheriff’s Office were sent to conduct a welfare check on a woman in Hanford, Calif., late Tuesday afternoon, only to find her fatally shot. The two young children she shared with Jonathan Alexis Maldonado-Cruz, 23, were nowhere to be found.
Police said Wednesday they believe Maldonado-Cruz shot his ex-girlfriend at around 1 a.m. Tuesday and may have fled to Mexico with 3-year-old Arya and 2-year-old Alana Maldonado. Police have issued an Amber Alert for the sisters, warning that Maldonado-Cruz is considered armed and dangerous.
The suspect left the house in Hanford, about 40 miles south of Fresno, in a grey, four-door 2020 Hyundai Elantra with California plates, police said. He’s described as 5-foot-9 and weighing 215 pounds, with black hair and eyes.
Arya is 3 feet tall, with brown hair and eyes, and weighs 25 pounds, police said. Alana is 2-foot-5, also with brown hair and eyes, and weighs around 20 pounds.
Police did not identify the woman who was killed.