Mom’s Fall From San Diego Stadium With 2-Year-Old in Her Arms Was Suicide-Homicide: Police

A woman who plunged six stories to her death from a San Diego baseball park last year while clutching her 2-year-old son intentionally made the jump, authorities said Wednesday. Raquel Wilkins, 40, and her son, Denzel Browning-Wilkins, fell at San Diego’s Petco Park on Sept. 25, just as fans were filing into the stadium for a Padres game against the Atlanta Braves. In the wake of the fatal fall, one witness was quoted in local media saying he’d seen Wilkins lose her balance and fall after hopping up on a bench. Police at the time called the death “suspicious.” But after “a thorough and comprehensive investigation” that included interviews and surveillance footage, among other things, the San Diego Police department determined the death to be a suicide, and her son’s death a homicide, San Diego police homicide Lt. Andra Brown said in a statement Wednesday. A lawyer for the family has said they were not given any explanation for how investigators reached that conclusion, and police said they would not release any further information on the case.

If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741.