Guilty Verdict For Mom Accused Of Torturing Her Toddler

A Wildomar mother of two was convicted today of torture and other felonies for thrusting her toddler's legs into scalding hot water as punishment, causing third-degree burns.

Diana Vicky Estrada, 26, faces life in prison when sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Mandio on April 15.

In addition to the torture count, Estrada was convicted of inflicting corporal injury to a child and a sentence-enhancing great bodily injury allegation.

The defendant was arrested in August 2009 after she took her then-18- month-old daughter Princella into a Lake Elsinore medical clinic with burned feet and legs, according to court documents. The child's toes had turned black from a scalding, and she was transferred to the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center burn unit in Colton for treatment, including skin grafts.

Riverside County sheriff's investigators spoke with the victim's 4-year-old sister, Liliana, who told them the defendant had gotten angry when the younger child soiled her drawers, according to testimony from Estrada's preliminary hearing.

The woman filled a bathtub with steaming hot water and immersed the infant's bottom half into it. Liliana told investigators that her sister was crying and had "red blood owies.''

In 2007, Estrada was charged with child abuse for beating Liliana, whose arms had been broken at different times. Estrada pleaded guilty a year later and was sentenced to 180 days in jail and 48 months probation. She was also permitted to retain custody of the children. Princella had just been born.

Both children are now in foster care. Liliana's father, Fabian Cayetano Urrea, is serving a life sentence for killing the defendant's husband, Jorge Estrada, in 2005.

Urrea and Diana Estrada had been romantically involved before she met and married Jorge Estrada. Urrea was angry because the National Guardsman planned to raise Liliana as his own. Princella's father has not been identified. Estrada is being held without bail in the county jail. --City News Service and Toni McAllister contributed to this report.