Ashtabula mother and daughter dead for days before bodies discovered

ASHTABULA, Ohio - The bodies of a mother and daughter sat in their Ashtabula home for days before they were discovered, the Ashtabula County Coroner’s office said.

Family members found 40-year-old Amparo “Patty” Torres and 20-year-old Hilda Delores Garcia Rodriguez dead in their house on Kain Avenue on Monday. Garcia’s boyfriend called the family when he hadn’t heard from her in days.

Family also told NewsChannel5 that Torres’ husband, 32-year-old Gilberto Torres, was sleeping on the couch with a gun when they detained them.

On Thursday, the Ashtabula County Coroner’s Office said the time of death for the women was the morning of Friday, Oct. 5, meaning the suspect was in the house with two decomposing bodies.

Police said both women were found naked and it appeared Garcia was beaten. Amparo Torres died from a single gunshot wound to the head, while her daughter died from asphyxia from smothering, the coroner said.

“In the first room, we found Amparo dead in her bed. It looked like she has been beaten. Then, we went to Hilda’s room to see if she was in there and we found her in bed. There was a lot of blood everywhere,” said a family member, who did not want to be identified.

Gilberto Torres appeared in an Ashtabula Municipal courtroom on Tuesday. He entered no plea on two counts of murder.