Delilah Urrutia

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Remembering Delilah

Delilah Urrutia was three years old. She was the youngest daughter in her family and had older sisters. She had only recently celebrated her third birthday when her life ended. There is very little publicly preserved about the ordinary little things that made Delilah Delilah. Much of what remains comes from police reports, court proceedings and testimony describing what she endured inside her home. But those records are not the sum of her life. Delilah was a little girl before she became the victim in a murder and torture case.At three years old, she should have been playing, learning, laughing and discovering the world around her. She should have been protected by the adults responsible for her care. Instead, Delilah experienced prolonged and escalating abuse inside her own home.  Delilah was a little girl before she became the victim in a murder and torture case. At three years old, she should have been playing, learning, laughing and discovering the world around her. She should have been protected by the adults responsible for her care. Instead, Delilah experienced prolonged and escalating abuse inside her own home. Her name was Delilah Urrutia. And she deserves to be remembered as more than what was done to her.

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Delilah's Story

Delilah's death on June 25, 2009 was not the result of one isolated act of violence. Evidence presented during her mother's trial described months of abuse and torture. Delilah's older sister testified that their mother, Yolanda Peña, used cruel punishments against the children. She described Delilah being bound at her wrists and ankles with tape and confined separately from her sister, sometimes inside a closet or a container used to store clothing. Her sister testified that Delilah sometimes slept on a rug in the living room while tied to a chair. She remembered marks appearing on Delilah's wrists and knees. She noticed that parts of her little sister's fingernails appeared to be disappearing. She also testified that their mother struck Delilah with clothes hangers. Another older sister later described still more abuse.  She testified that Yolanda would pepper spray three year old Delilah when she refused to eat. She described her mother heating sewing needles and poking Delilah with the hot needles as punishment. The children were also subjected to extreme temperatures as punishment. Testimony described Yolanda tying the children up and using extremely hot and cold water against them. By June 25, Delilah was already a severely abused little girl. Then she suffered extensive burns. Yolanda initially claimed Delilah had accidentally pulled a container of extremely hot water from a kitchen counter onto herself. But the evidence presented at trial told a different story. Prosecutors said Yolanda had instructed one of Delilah's older sisters to pour hot water on Delilah as punishment while Yolanda was away from the house. Delilah suffered second-degree burns across her face, neck, chest, back and arms. Those burns covered a substantial portion of her tiny body. Delilah desperately needed medical treatment. She did not receive it. Instead, investigators said she was confined as punishment. When Yolanda returned home, prosecutors said Delilah looked at her mother—something Delilah apparently was not permitted to do.  Yolanda became enraged. Delilah was beaten. The fatal injury was blunt-force trauma to her head.

By the time authorities were called to the family's home at approximately 10:15 that night, Delilah was already dead. The examination of her body revealed the extent of what she had endured.

Delilah had head trauma, second-degree burns across her face, neck, chest, back and arms, numerous cuts and bruises, and portions of three fingers were missing.

Some of the injuries were older. They showed a pattern of repeated physical abuse rather than a single terrible day. 

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Justice for Delilah

Yolanda Guadalupe Peña was arrested on June 30, 2009, five days after her daughter's death.

She was eventually tried on charges including murder and torture. During the trial, Delilah's surviving sister had to take the witness stand and describe what she had seen happen inside their home including the pepper spray, heated needles and other punishments inflicted upon her little sister. On June 17, 2013, a jury convicted Yolanda of first-degree murder, torture, assaulting a child causing great bodily injury, and inflicting injury upon another child. On August 27, 2013, she was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. for Delilah's murder, Yolanda received 25 years to life.

For torture, she received an additional life sentence, ordered to run consecutively.

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Person convicted: Yolanda Guadalupe Peña
Relationship to Delilah: Mother
Convictions: First-degree murder, torture, assaulting a child causing great bodily injury, and inflicting injury on a child
Sentence: 25 years to life plus a consecutive life term

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Forever Remembered

Delilah was three. That number is difficult to reconcile with what the evidence says she endured.

A three year old was bound. A three year old was confined. A three year old was struck with hangers.

A three year old was pepper sprayed. A three year old was poked with heated needles. A three year

old suffered extensive burns and was denied the medical treatment she desperately needed. And ultimately, a three-year-old little girl suffered the head trauma that ended her life. Those facts belong on Delilah's memorial because the severity of what happened to her should not disappear with time.

But Delilah herself must not disappear inside those facts either. She was somebody's little sister.

Her surviving sisters carried memories of what happened inside that home and later had to describe those experiences in court. Delilah should have grown alongside them. She should have had a fourth birthday. She should have gone to school. She should have had the opportunity to develop interests, make friends, discover who she was and create decades of memories that no court record could ever capture. Instead, almost everything publicly preserved about Delilah concerns the suffering inflicted upon her. Abuse Angels preserves something else: her name. Delilah Urrutia. A three year old little girl whose life mattered and who deserved protection, safety and the chance to grow up.

May 14, 2006 - June 25, 2009

Age: 3 Years

Location: La Quinta, California

          Suspect in death: Yolanda Guadalupe Pena, Mother