Carmela Dela Rosa suffered from major depression that was worsening in the months before she tossed her 2-year-old granddaughter to her death at Tysons Corner Center, the woman’s friends and doctors testified Thursday. Dela Rosa is charged with murder in the November 2010 killing of Angelyn Ogdoc. Her attorneys say she was legally insane when she threw the toddler over a sixth-floor walkway connecting the mall and a parking garage.
Relatives and longtime friends testified Thursday that Dela Rosa’s first suffered from depression after the death of her father a decade ago. The disease worsened when she learned her daughter was pregnant in 2008, and again last fall, they said.
Dela Rosa tried to commit suicide by swallowing pills and later driving her car off the road, her doctors and family members have testified.
One cousin, Olga Achacoso, testified that Dela Rosa told her, “I want to spare my family from the pain and suffering I’m bringing to them” when she tried to kill herself.
When Dela Rosa learned her daughter was pregnant, she told longtime friend Susan Bugay that she was going to kill herself because she was not a good mother, Bugay testified.
Prosecutors say Dela Rosa harbored a deep hatred of her daughter’s husband and threw Angelyn off the walkway to seek revenge against him.
Doctors who have treated her testified that she suffered from major depressive disorder.
Dr. Cynthia Gauss, a psychiatrist at Inova Fairfax Hospital who treated Dela Rosa after her August 2010 overdose attempt, said Dela Rosa reported feeling hopeless, overwhelmed and stressed.
Gauss testified that Dela Rosa suffered from major depressive disorder but had no signs of psychosis, which include delusions, hallucinations and other unrealistic thoughts and feelings. Gauss said Dela Rosa showed poor insight and judgment.
“When someone’s in a state of depression, it clouds their judgment,” she said.
Gauss’ findings that Dela Rosa was depressed but not psychotic were echoed by the eight other medical professionals who testified Thursday.
Colleen Martin, a clinical psychologist who spoke with Dela Rosa at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center after she was arrested, said Dela Rosa seemed disoriented.
“She didn’t seem to have a clear understanding of why she was there and what was going on around her,” Martin said. She added that it was difficult for Dela Rosa to focus on conversation.
