Cheryl L. Busch, 39, has been charged on suspicion of shooting and killing her daughter Wednesday at their family's home in the 2300 block of Shore Road.
Sheriff Curtis Hill today said there is "nothing new I can share" on a possible motive in the killing of a 19-month-old this week and he described the safety cell in which the homicide suspect, the victim's mother, is being held.
The sheriff did, however, acknowledge that the San Benito County Mental Health Department has been keeping close watch on Cheryl L. Busch in one of the jail's two safety cells. She will remain there, on suicide watch, until mental health officials say otherwise, he said.
Hill described how inmates such as Busch in the safety cells are clothed with a security wrap, which he said resembles a "heavy blanket with Velcro that you can wear like a robe."
Jail personnel watching over the cells, he said, "literally hang a log on the outside of the door and staff are required to check every 15 minutes."
"In the meantime, mental health comes in periodically to monitor that," Hill said.
Asked if there has been progress in realizing a potential motive, Hill responded, "Nothing that I can share with you right now."
Busch, 39, has been charged on suspicion of shooting and killing her daughter Wednesday at their family's home in the 2300 block of Shore Road.
"On the bigger picture, because that's the ultimate taboo, people study forever why parents kill their children, especially mothers who kill their babies," Hill said. "There's a lot of studies on that. You'll see where the person will have the severe mental illness, which leads to being housed institutionally, in a mental health environment instead of a prison system."
He went on: "They go down. They fall apart in the criminal justice system."
Because of its complexity and "potential defense issues," Hill also said he "anticipates" the entire court process with this case will take more than two years.
"You can assume some of the approaches that are going to be used on both sides," he said.
Kollin Kosmicki Kollin Kosmicki is editor of the Free Lance and Pinnacle. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 337 or editor@freelancenews.com.
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