FRESNO, Calif. -- The murder of a California kindergartner Tuesday stunned residents still heartbroken by the carbon-monoxide poisoning deaths of two of her Oakhurst Elementary schoolmates last week.
The Madera County Sheriff's Office said the body of Marijane Lyn Lewis, 5, was discovered about 4:30 a.m. PST Tuesday by her grandfather in the Nipinnawasee home near Ahwahnee, Calif., that he and his wife shared with the girl and her mother, Crystal Lynn Lewis.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Erica Stuart said preliminary reports indicate Marijane's throat was slashed.
Authorities found the body of Crystal Lewis three hours later under the William Sell Bridge in Mariposa County, about 2.5 miles away.
Sheriff's officials said Lewis killed her daughter before killing herself, but they had no information on a possible motive.
News that Marijane had been murdered hit hard at Oakhurst Elementary School, which was still reeling from the Jan. 16 deaths of students Alexis Montoya, 10, and Jayden Montoya, 8, from carbon monoxide poisoning inside their Oakhurst, Calif., home. Their uncle, Bruce John Frederick Hargett, 35, and their grandmother, Diana Montoya, 60, also died.
Oakhurst Elementary decided not to notify students about the latest death but instead sent home a letter with suggestions for parents about how to talk to children about it.
Melanie Schaeffer wondered what she would say to her 7-year-old son, who attends a different school, and her daughter, a fifth grader at Oakhurst Elementary.
"We'll probably be honest with them, but it's hard to explain to a 7-year-old. Not only was (Marijane) murdered, but she was murdered by her mommy. That makes it 20 times worse," Schaeffer said. "It's a scary thing. Will they think, could this happen to me?"
Terri Worthington Pack said she didn't want to even discuss it with her two sons, who are in grades 1 and 2 at the school. "We're all just devastated and heartbroken."
The news of Marijane's death was also a blow to school staff members, who were informed at a lunchtime meeting.
After the accidental deaths of the Montoya sisters, Marijane's murder is "way too fresh," said secretary Cheryl Wilhite. "We're sorting out our own emotions."
"What an awful thing," said Glenn Reid, superintendent of the Bass Lake Joint Union Elementary School District. "It just hurts," he said. "It's like it's your child."
Reid said when school officials learned of Marijane's death, they began calling crisis experts across the state to decide how to break the news to her classmates. Reid said that because of the nature of the death, they decided to have parents tell their children what happened. Ten crisis counselors will be on campus Wednesday, he added.
"We're getting good at this," Reid said. "Unfortunately, it's not something that you want to get good at."
Madera Sheriff's spokesman Stuart said an autopsy on Marijane's body will be conducted in Madera County, where she died. Crystal Lewis died in Mariposa County, which contracts with Stanislaus County for autopsies.
The killing of children by their mothers is not common, but there are recent instances locally, including Gabriela Espinosa, who drowned her infant son in a Fresno, Calif., motel bathtub in April 2010; Lisa Brown, who was sentenced last year for drowning her 7-month-old daughter in a bathtub on Christmas Eve 2007; and Nancy Ortiz of Orosi, Calif., who was convicted in 2009 of abandoning her infant daughter in a pickup truck on a freezing December night. The baby died from hypothermia.
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