5-year-old twins found dead in Sanford home after mother jumps to her death, deputies say

By Greg Fox, Chelsea Robinson, Dave McDaniel

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    SANFORD, Florida (WESH) — A death investigation is underway after a mother and two children were found dead in Sanford Friday.

Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said 31-year-old Catorreia Hutto was pulled from the water Friday morning after she apparently jumped from the Lake Jesup Bridge.

Five-year-old twins Ahmad and Ava Jackson were shown in a photo just a couple of weeks ago, wearing their uniforms for the UCP Seminole Charter School.

A photo showed their mom, Hutto, in a 3-year-old photo provided to WESH 2 News by a family friend.

Friends, family and neighbors are grieving the loss of both children and their mother.

The boy and girl were found inside the family’s home on Alexander Avenue Friday morning.

All of this started when a motorist passed Hutto’s car on the Lake Jesup Bridge and saw her jump over the side.

“Mom jumps off the bridge, commits what is obviously now a suicide and what looks to be a homicide contained within this house,” Lemma said.

Though a gun and bullets were found inside the home in the bedroom where the kids were found in the bunks, they were not shot.

The medical examiner will be vital for finding a cause of death.

“It does not appear that there is any blunt trauma. It does not appear that they are the victims of gunfire,” Lemma said. “So there would have to be a method of death that the medical examiner can help us understand through toxicology reports, but again, no signs of trauma to the body. And the two deputies who went in said it looked like two innocent 5-year-olds sleeping.”

Neighbors wonder what could drive someone to take the lives of innocent kids and their own.

“I am absolutely heartbroken. I have empathy. I don’t have to know her. I have a daughter of my own, and what first comes to be is that she may not have had anyone to reach out to,” neighbor Latoshia Reynolds said.

“But I know that in my community, mental health is not being taken seriously,” Reynolds said.

“She was a very hands-on mom for as far as what I could see,” neighbor Gabrielle Buggs said.

Hutto was known as “Tory” by her closest neighbor.

“Just a person trying to make it through life, the best way that she could,” Buggs said.

She said Hutto seemed overwhelmed at times, but nothing to hint about a drive to the Lake Jesup bridge Friday morning, diving off.

Investigators reached out to Hutto’s mother.

“The mom did relay to us that she has struggled throughout her lifetime with depression, but nothing to say she would act out with this level of violence with her children,” Lemma said.

The sheriff pointed out that tragedies often occur after a buildup of issues, but not in this case.

“There is no history here, there’s no history of allegations of abuse or neglect, or anything like that,” Lemma said.

“Mental health is very serious,” neighbor Kristin Ryczek said.

A neighbor down the street, also a single mom, knows how difficult it can be.

“Having kids by yourself, single mother, is very, very hard,” Ryczek said.

The children’s school, UCP Seminole Charter School, released a statement:

“The entire UCP community is deeply saddened by the sudden passing of two of our Seminole County school’s kindergarten students and feel shocked by the circumstances. We immediately made available grief counseling for classmates, teachers, and school family members,” said CEO and Superintendent Dr. Ilene E. Wilkins of UCP of Central Florida/UCP Charter Schools.

Hutto acquired her house from Seminole-Apopka Habitat for Humanity, moving in just over a year ago.

We reached out to Habitat for Humanity for comment. They declined.

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