OAKLAND — A woman has been sentenced to life in a mental hospital after an Alameda County judge affirmed she was insane at the “precise moment” she stabbed her 10-year-old daughter to death in their apartment, court records show.
Rosa Orozco-Suarez, 35, was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and Judge Kimberly Colwell sentenced her to a maximum life term for second-degree murder, records show. The sentencing occurred in early 2025 but hasn’t been previously reported.
Police say that on May 22, 2023, Orozco-Surarez posted a video of her daughter, Sophia Lorenzo Orozco, with the caption, “This is how we say good bye on Facebook,” and “see you on the other side,” authorities say. Then she signed off social media and allegedly stabbed the young girl to death before turning the knife on herself. She was hospitalized with self-inflicted knife wounds after she was arrested.
Orozco-Suarez has been transferred to the state hospital system, records show.
After her arrest, neighbors said that Orozco-Suarez appeared increasingly paranoid and unstable in the weeks leading up to the homicide. Some of her family members have blamed her stress on alleged domestic violence by Sophia’s father, who was not present for the homicide.
When a person is found not guilty of murder by reason of insanity, it is a legal finding that they killed the victim but either didn’t understand the nature of their act or didn’t understand it was wrong. Under state law, such a finding results in the killer being sent to a psychiatric hospital for as long as their prison sentence would have been, with one caveat: The sentence can be cut short if doctors find that the subject’s sanity has been “restored.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with feelings of depression or suicidal thoughts, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline offers free, round-the-clock support, information and resources for help. Call or text the lifeline at 988, or see the 988lifeline.org website, where chat is available.