Khadiyjah Pendergraph: Charged after allegedly drowning disabled daughter in bathtub
A woman from California has been arrested and charged for the death of her disabled 9-year-old daughter, according to the Westminster Police Department (WPD).
WPD officers responded to a call on Nov. 24, 2023 from a concerned family member requesting a welfare check on the mother and daughter residing at a home on the 14100 block of Goldenwest Street, a WPD statement says.
The girl’s father called police after claiming to receive concerning messages from his ex-wife regarding their daughter, Fox says. The District Attorney’s office stated that he tried picking up his daughter on Thanksgiving, but was met with a locked door no one answered.
Upon arriving, police forced entry into the apartment and discovered the decomposing body of 9-year-old Victoria Pendergraph in the bathtub, the statement says. No one else was in the apartment.
Fox notes that Victoria was wheelchair-bound and non-verbal.
“While families across America sat down to Thanksgiving dinner with their loved ones, this little disabled girl’s lifeless body was left to rot in a bathtub after being drowned by her own mother,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer.
