Teen mom, baby murder investigation ends with shocking arrests. Here’s Fresno police timeline
The Fresno community and local law enforcement have expressed shock and grief in the unimaginable double killing of a teen mother and her infant allegedly at the hands of her sister.
Police say the older sister, 22-year-old Yarelly Solorio Rivera, was jealous of her younger sister, Yanelly Solorio Rivera, 18, and with boyfriend Martin Arroyo Morales, 26, premeditated the killing of Yanelly and the younger sister’s 3-week-old baby girl, Celine.
Chief Paco Balderrama would not go into detail Thursday about where the jealousy originated, but said the couple showed no remorse while confessing to the slaying.
“We know we have the right people. We have confessions, we have the murder weapon, no doubts to what happened,” he said. “As far as the exact reason why, we may never know.”
One Fresno Bee reader commented on Facebook she was stunned by the arrests. “I just can’t even wrap my head around this,” she wrote. “Sickening and tragic.”
Here’s a timeline of what police have made public in the nearly seven-week investigation:
Sept. 24: Police said they rushed to a home on Fruit Avenue just north of Jensen Avenue at the edge of the city limit after reports of multiple shots fired about 7:20 a.m. in a secluded home standing inside an orchard. Few details were immediately available from police other than the confirmation of the death of a young mother and child and an ongoing investigation.
Sept. 26: Yanelly Solorio Rivera and her baby, Celine, were identified publicly as police said they continued to follow leads. The information came out on a Monday that followed a weekend that saw four killings in the city.
Sept. 27: Family and friends held a vigil in remembrance of the slain mom and baby outside the home where they were killed. The family asked media to stay outside of the property though a spokesperson spoke to reporters outside the gate. It was unclear if the older sister and boyfriend accused of the crimes were in attendance.
Nov. 2: After about six weeks without enough results, police announce the reward for information that leads to a conviction would increase to $25,000. Balderrama has since alluded to detectives not having enough information at that point to make the arrests that would come a week later.
Nov. 3: While speaking about reward money at a news conference, Balderrama offered some new details in the killing. He said the young mother was holding the baby when both were shot — the mother multiple times and the baby at least once.
Nov. 6: Police said they used help from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to do a more intense search of the orchard surrounding the home. New leads came from the search and previous pleas, police said. They also released a video showing a man walking through what appears to be a parking lot and asked for help to identify him. Balderrama later said the man in the video was Arroyo Morales.
Nov. 10: Balderrama held a news conference to announce the arrest the previous day of the older sister. Jail records show Arroyo Morales was arrested earlier in the week. Both were being held in lieu of $2 million on suspicion of two counts of murder with special circumstances.
Next week: Yarelly Solorio Rivera and Arroyo Morales are expected to be arraigned, according to Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp.
This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 10:00 AM.
