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Riverside Mother Arrested On Murder Charges In Death Of 3-Year-Old Daughter

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) –  Authorities have arrested a 30-year-old woman on murder charges in the death of her 3-year-old daughter at a Riverside-area home Friday morning.

Susan Rank
Susan Rank, 30, was arrested Friday, Jan. 26, 2018, on murder charges in the death of her 3-year-old daughter in Riverside, Calif. (Riverside County Sheriff's Department)

Friday night Susan Rank was questioned by detectives from the Jurupa Valley Sheriff's Station and immediately taken into custody. She was later transported to the Robert Presley Detention Center, where she was booked for murder, according the Riverside County Sheriff's Department.

Riverside County Sheriff's deputies responded to a residence in the 3400 block of Cannes Avenue in the Highgrove neighborhood at 6:55 a.m., where the body of 3-year-old Zyla Rank was discovered.

The circumstances of the death were not immediately known. She was found dead in the yard of the home, a sheriff's official said. Several people are being questioned in addition to the arrest.

"We do believe that there's nobody outstanding that was at the residence," Riverside County Sheriff's Deputy Mike Vasquez told CBS2. "We're currently just working through the details of interviews, and finding evidence there at the location."

The victim's grandmother, Laurie Wood, told CBS2 Friday evening that Rank had a mental illness that may have caused her to kill her daughter. Wood said she tried to convince her daughter to get help for her illness. Wood said she visited several doctors and had gotten her daughter a mental health appointment for this coming Monday.

"She was the sweetest little baby," Wood said of Zyla.

Wood said she was also trying to get custody of her granddaughter.

"I was in the process of getting, not Section 8, but housing, so I could get her," Wood said. "I think it's a tragedy how people can go to try to get mental help and get shoved out the door, without any kind of consideration, it needs to be addressed," Wood said.

No further information is being released due to the early stages of the investigation.

Anyone with information regarding the incident can contact Investigator Ted Gonzalez with the Central Homicide Unit at 951-955-2777, or Jurupa Valley Investigator Mike Barros at 951-955-2600.

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