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San Rafael woman arrested for alleged fatal stabbing of her mother

Updated  January 9, 2024 11:08pm PST
San Rafael
KTVU FOX 2

Police say daughter is suspect in San Rafael womans stabbing death

A community activist was stabbed to death in her San Rafael apartment. Loved ones are mourning the loss of Olivia Beltran. Police say the suspect in the killing is the victims daughter.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - A 28-year-old San Rafael woman has been arrested on suspicion of murdering her mother on Monday, police said. 

Officers found a 55-year-old woman with multiple stab wounds on the balcony of her apartment in the Terra Linda community around 5 p.m.

The suspect, Tonantzyn Oris Beltran, was"holding a knife in her hand, standing next to a stabbed female victim, and her clothes soaked in blood," according to police.

Beltran was later identified as the victim's daughter.

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Police said Beltran did not immediately respond to officers’ commands and directions.

"While officers were confronting Beltran from the balcony, another team of officers forced entry through the front door of the apartment and immediately took Beltran into custody," police said in a news release on Tuesday.

The victim was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour and a half later. 

"I still can't believe it," a friend of Olivia's for more than 20 years, Solange Echeverria, told KTVU. "It's a huge loss, and we're still reeling from it."

Family members said the suspect demonstrated some concerning behavior in the days leading up to the killing, posting some chilling and worrisome videos, including one they said the suspect put on TikTok shortly before the killing. The video, much of it in Spanish, showed an emotional conversation with her mother, who tearfully pleaded, "You've got to stop harming yourself and putting yourself in harm's way."

The Marin County Sheriff’s Office had not yet released the mother's identity, but KTVU has learned her name was Olivia Beltran, described as a longtime activist in her community who worked as a translator and advocate for immigration rights. 

"She was one of our biggest advocates," Echeverria said.

Family and friends remembered her as a loving mother, someone who brought the community together and said that the impact of her loss was profound. "We all loved her," a relative told KTVU, adding, "She was funny, loving and very caring."

"She loved her kids and she was always fighting for them," Echeverria said. "Olivia wanted to make the world a better place for everyone."