Authorities are investigating the mental health of the Fairfax woman accused of throwing her 2-year-old granddaughter to her death at the Tysons Corner Center, according to a prosecutor and the woman’s attorney. Carmela Dela Rosa, 50, allegedly threw her granddaughter, Angelyn Ogdoc, over the edge of a sixth-floor walkway connecting the mall with a parking garage Monday night. Dela Rosa was charged with murder after Angelyn died Tuesday.
Public defender Dawn Butorac said Dela Rosa, of the 3100 block of Ellenwood Drive in Fairfax, has suffered from mental health issues in the past. Butorac said she was exploring the extent of those problems and whether they played a role in Monday’s incident.
It does not appear that an argument among family members led to the child’s death, said Ian Rodway, deputy commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax County. He said there “no indications of what triggered it” and police are continuing to investigate.
Both Rodway and Butorac said they did not know the specifics of Dela Rosa’s past mental health problems.
Authorities are continuing to talk with family members who were also at the Tysons Corner Center when the incident occurred, as well as other witnesses and people who know Dela Rosa, Rodway said.
Dela Rosa is Angelyn’s maternal grandmother. The toddler lived with her parents and paternal grandparents on the 1800 block of Griffith Road in Falls Church.
Butorac said she did not know whether Dela Rosa, who is in custody at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, had been communicating with her family since her arrest.
Fairfax County police said Angelyn was severely injured when she was thrown from the walkway at about 7 p.m. Monday. She was taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, where she died at about 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Dela Rosa worked at several part-time jobs, including as an usher at George Mason University’s Patriot Center, said Barry Geisler, the center’s general manager.
She had been employed there for about a year, but had not worked in the past two months, he said.
Geisler said he had “no idea why she did what she apparently did” and said Dela Rosa was “very outgoing and friendly.”
Rodway said Dela Rosa did not have a criminal background. She has received a few traffic violations, records show.
A preliminary hearing in Fairfax’s Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, which oversees cases of adults charged with crimes against children and family members, is scheduled for January.
