Delhi mother charged with murder in toddler’s death

A 22-year-old Delhi mother faces new charges of murder and assault in connection with the death earlier this year of her 2-year-old daughter, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Kalena M. Olson had previously been charged with felony counts of child endangerment for the death of her daughter, Hennessy Fagin, whose body was found April 21 at a home in the 9600 block of Hillside Drive in Delhi.

“When we originally charged the case, we only had summary reports, but now we’ve had an opportunity to review all of the evidence in the case and have decided to proceed with murder charges,” said Steve Slocum, one of the Merced County deputy district attorneys prosecuting the case.

Slocum declined to comment on any facts that may have led prosecutors to add the new allegations. Olson now faces the same charges as her boyfriend, Sergio A. Zamora, 24.

Olson’s attorney, Tom Pfeiff, said his client has always known a murder charge could be filed. He declined to say whether he felt the previous child endangerment charges were more appropriate.

“I can say that it’s certainly our contention that she did nothing wrong,” Pfeiff told the Merced Sun-Star.

Judge Marc A. Garcia on Tuesday increased Olson’s bail, based on the new charges. Both defendants remain in custody on $1.1 million bail each at the John Latorraca Correctional Center, according to Merced County Jail records.

Zamora and Olson on Tuesday both pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and assault on a child under the age of 8, causing death. If convicted, they could face life in prison.

A preliminary hearing was scheduled Tuesday in Merced County Superior Court, but the case was postponed after Zamora’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Sean Howard, requested more time to review the medical evidence. The preliminary hearing was rescheduled for Jan. 6.

Howard has said he hopes the public will wait for all the facts to come out before making judgments.

The Merced County Coroner’s Office said Hennessy Fagin suffered repeated abuse over an extended period and her 3-year-old sister also appears to have been abused, according to a Merced County Sheriff’s Department report.

The 3-year-old girl was placed in the custody of Child Protective Services in April, authorities said.

Zamora and Olson were arrested Aug. 16 by the Turlock Police Department following a four-month investigation.

When first questioned in April, both Olson and Zamora denied knowing how the child died, saying she wasn’t breathing when they found her. Zamora said he performed CPR, according to the report.

Olson changed her story in August, according to the report, saying she was “convinced” Zamora was responsible for the death. Olson told deputies she saw Zamora abuse the child the night she died and “remembered Zamora telling the victim that he wanted her to be a ‘good girl’ and that he didn’t understand why she was messing around pretending she was sleeping,” the report says.

Deputies said Zamora’s version of events did not change.

Investigators asked Zamora if “he was willing to bet the rest of his life” telling a jury that he did not know why the toddler died. The report says Zamora responded, “It’s a gamble. It’s a 50-50 gamble.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2014 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Delhi mother charged with murder in toddler’s death."