Accused Mother Describes Family’s Pain

A young Laguna Niguel mother accused of deliberately killing her infant son said this week that authorities have threatened to take her younger sister into protective custody if the two continue to live together with their parents.

In her first interview since the Oct. 15 shooting, 20-year-old Shantae Molina proclaimed her innocence and said the last two months have been agonizing.

“I would never do something sick like that to my baby,” said Molina, flanked by her younger sister and other family members, during an interview at her attorney’s office Monday.

Molina’s 9-month-old son, Armani Shyloh Contreras, died after being shot in the head Oct. 15. Molina later told her attorney that she was frightened after hearing what she thought was an intruder outside her home, picked up a gun and fired, hitting the baby accidentally. She was arrested on charges of first-degree murder Nov. 9 and released on $250,000 bail a few days later.

After her release, Molina went to live with the rest of her family at an aunt and uncle’s house in northern San Diego County--until last week, when the family said it received phone calls and a letter from a San Diego County social worker.

The official told them that because of Molina’s arrest, her 14-year-old sister would be taken into custody if they continued to live in the same home, according to her parents, Ken and Olga Welch. The teen was also pulled from class and interviewed by two investigators at school last week, the parents said.

Fearing the teen would be taken to a juvenile center or a foster home, the parents decided to leave the younger sister with the aunt and uncle in San Diego County and move back with Molina to the Laguna Niguel home where the shooting occurred.

The family’s attorney, Eric Lampel, provided a copy of a letter the San Diego social worker sent to the Welches. The letter says the county is investigating the family after receiving a hotline referral on Nov. 19. The letter contains no details on why the investigation is being conducted.

Officials with the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency said they could not comment on an individual case because of confidentiality laws. A spokesman, Edward Cadena, said that it was possible that an investigation would be conducted if a report was received that a potentially violent adult had moved into a home with a minor.

Michael Piel, the Orange County detention release officer who recommended that bail be set for Molina, said there was no evidence in the record to indicate that she would be a risk to her family or anyone else in the community.

“She had no previous criminal record that I saw, and the victim was her child, there wasn’t anyone else involved in it,” said Piel.

Lewis Rosenblum, the district attorney handling the Molina case, declined comment.

Molina said she was “scared and nervous” that her sister might be removed from the family. “I love her,” she said.

The whole family had moved to their relatives’ home in northern San Diego County after Armani’s death. It was emotionally difficult to remain in the Laguna Niguel house where the killing had occurred, Ken Welch said. Police investigators had also torn up carpet and destroyed or taken furniture seeking evidence.

And their younger daughter, an eighth-grader, didn’t want to go back to school in Orange County to face questions from other kids after the heavy publicity surrounding the case, he said.

“We have nowhere else to go; I don’t have enough money to fix up this house, let alone have money for two houses,” said Welch, a quality-control worker who has taken off so much time from work that colleagues have donated their vacation time to him. “I wanted to change it, to have a freshness there, but I can’t.”

Welch’s wife, Olga, added: “I feel as if my heart has been torn out of my body. There is such a huge emptiness. If you have children, I pray this will never happen to you.”

Molina said it was hard to return to the house, but “I tell myself this is a place where I have many happy memories of my son too.”