In mother and young daughter’s suspicious Blackhawk drowning, coroner notes blunt force injuries, can’t eliminate homicide or accident

BLACKHAWK — After months of waiting on the results of autopsies for a mother and daughter who drowned in the backyard pool after arranging for the girl to meet her wealthy father for the first time, a number of key questions remain unanswered.

Dr. Ikechi Ogan, a forensic pathologist, ruled that he could not determine whether 31-year-old Llaneth Chavez and her 4-year-old daughter, Malaya, died of an accident or homicide, leaving a major question mark on exactly what transpired last Feb. 12 to result in the double-drowning. They died shortly after Chavez drove Malaya from their home in Hollister to East Ridge Court in Blackhawk so the girl could meet her father — who had kept her a secret from his family — for the first time.

In addition to finding the cause of death — drowning — Ogan was tasked with picking one of four potential manners: two, suicide and natural causes, clearly didn’t apply. That left homicide and accident. Ogan’s ruling, undetermined, is a relatively rare result that comes only when more than one manner cannot be eliminate.

But Ogan did say that Chavez suffered multiple blunt force injures, including bruising on her back, left hip, abdomen, and upper chest. He noted the autopsy found no injuries to her head or evidence of strangulation. Malaya suffered a half-inch by half inch faint reddish scrape, but no other superficial injuries, the coroner’s report says.

Authorities have been investigating Chavez and Malaya’s deaths for potential criminal wrongdoing since the day their bodies were discovered. But proving a case beyond a reasonable doubt, without eyewitnesses or a clear accounting of their deaths, may prove tricky.

In an interview, Neama Rahmani, CEO of the Los Angeles-based West Coast Trial Attorneys firm, drew parallels between the Blackhawk drownings and the 2008 prosecution of Casey Anthony, a Florida woman who was acquitted of murdering her daughter, Caylee, and covering it up after the defense argued the girl had drowned accidentally in a family pool.

“Murder and accident are very different; people don’t go to prison for accidents, generally, unless there’s some kind of criminal negligence,” Rahmani said. “I would say, though, it’s one thing for a kid to drown in a pool but for an adult and a kid to drown in a pool, we don’t see that very often, obviously. If I were law enforcement I’d be very suspicious.”

The deaths of Chavez and Malaya have been shrouded in mystery and suspicion since around 3 p.m. Feb. 12, when Malaya’s father called 911 to report finding the mother and daughter unresponsive in his backyard pool. He claimed that he had left them out back while he went inside to take a shower, then found them dead or dying in the pool when he came out.

This newspaper is not naming the father, since he has not been arrested or charged in connection with either death. But police briefed the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office about the incident when it happened, and opened a suspicious death investigation, which remains active, authorities say.

In interviews with the Chavez family, authorities were told that Malaya’s father had been paying Chavez a monthly stipend on the condition that she keep her distance from him. The same went for his daughter, until Feb. 12.

Malaya’s father told police that he and Chavez had briefly dated, when he was the manager at a gas station — one in a chain owned by his family — where she worked. He said at the time he feared his family wouldn’t accept Chavez due to “cultural differences,” but after his mother died in December 2021, he agreed to allow Malaya into his life for the first time.

So they arranged for an ice cream outing. Chavez and Malaya arrived at his home at around 1:45 p.m., and he said he showed them into the backyard before excusing himself to go shower. He said after showering he called Chavez on her cellphone to tell her he was getting dressed, then went outside when she didn’t pick up. That’s when he saw both of them, motionless, floating in the pool. Chavez was face down, he said; Malaya was face up, he said.

He said he ran to the pool, jumped in, and pulled them out one at a time, starting with Malaya, then called 911. A dispatcher instructed him on how to perform CPR on the girl.

When police contacted Chavez’s brother, it raised their suspicions further. He told investigators both Chavez and Malaya were afraid of water, didn’t know how to swim, and that he doubted they’d have gone near a pool.

On top of that, police found evidence Malaya’s father had deleted text messages between him and Chavez, and he claimed the only surveillance at the home was a RING doorbell camera that operated on a live feed. But responding officers noted several security cameras throughout the inside and outside of the home, and subsequently authored warrants for the footage as part of the investigation. Police have not said if they recovered any video footage of value.

Anyone with information about this incident should contact the sheriff’s Investigation Division at 925-313-2600. Tips can be emailed to email tips@so.cccounty.us. Anonymous callers can call 866-846-3592 to leave a voice message.