A former California escort who stabbed her mother to death while live-streaming it on Facebook pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Tonantzyn Oris Beltran, 29, added the insanity plea onto her original not guilty plea during a court appearance Thursday.
Beltran is charged with the January murder of her mother Olivia Lucia Beltran Pacheco, a respected community activist in Marin County. She violently stabbed Pacheco, 55, on their San Rafael balcony and was found “holding a knife in her hand, standing next to a stabbed female victim, and her clothes soaked in blood,” cops said.
Viewers who witnessed the live stream before it was taken down reported the situation to San Rafael police. Officers busted through the front door after Beltran refused to respond.
Pacheco was still alive when officers cuffed her daughter, but died shortly after at a local hospital.
Judge Geoffrey Howard in Marin County Superior Court, who is presiding over Beltran’s case, ordered a psychiatric evaluation to determine if she meets the legal requirements to be deemed insane, according to Mercury News.
If she is found to be legally insane, Beltran will be admitted to a state hospital or a mental health treatment facility.
The day she live-streamed her mother’s murder, Beltran had gone to the Santa Rose police station to retrieve her impounded car, where officers there commented that she looked like she had “some mental health issues,” according to a now-deleted Tiktok video posted by the daughter.
Another video she posted the same day showed Pacheco begging her Beltran to calm down as she grew increasingly unhinged.
“You got to stop hurting yourself and putting yourself in harm’s way,” the mom reportedly told her.
Beltran also has a history of drug and alcohol abuse that has persisted since she tried her first drink at the age of 4, according to the Mercury News.
“Drugs gave me escape, relief, false happiness, they were like a self-medicating bandage,” she said, according to the outlet.
“I was homeless for a while, because I felt very hateful toward my mother. I did not know where that came from. But I couldn’t change that feeling, even though she seems like a saint and always loved me immensely.”
Beltran’s next hearing is set for Dec. 12.
