Mental Health Exam Ordered For Healdsburg Dad Accused Of Drowning Daughter In Church Baptismal Font

SONOMA COUNTY, CA – A clearly distraught Healdsburg man was charged this afternoon with the drowning death of his daughter in a church's baptismal pool Sunday.

Gerardo Mendoza Ordaz, 42, was charged in Sonoma County Superior Court with murder, felony assault on a child causing death and a misdemeanor charge of willful infliction of emotional distress on his 9-year-old son, who apparently witnessed the drowning at St. John the Baptist Church in Healdsburg.

Judge Arthur Wick suspended criminal proceedings and ordered a mental health examination of the defendant. A hearing on the doctor's report is scheduled for Monday.

Ordaz was arrested after he was found naked and yelling for help in a back parking lot of the Healdsburg Police Department near the church around 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

He was carrying his daughter, identified today as Maria Jose Ordaz-Chavarria, whose clothes were still wet, according to Healdsburg police.

Ordaz's partially clothed 9-year-old son was with his father and sister, and the charge of inflicting emotional distress applies to the young boy.

Family members left immediately after this afternoon's brief hearing.

Ordaz said he and the children were at the church before they went to the Police Department about 75 yards away, according to police.

Neither Healdsburg police nor Deputy District Attorney Jason Riehl would disclose anything Ordaz might have told police about the drowning.

"We cannot disclose a motive at this time, but we determined it was not accidental," Healdsburg Police Chief Kevin Burke said Monday afternoon.

Ordaz explained why he was at the church, but Burke said he could not disclose that information.

"They were the only ones in the church at the time. The church leaves the doors open late on Sunday," Burke said.

Police served a search warrant on the family's home, Burke said, and he is not aware of any domestic violence related calls for service at the home.

Ordaz cried, squirmed in the seat of a wheelchair and uttered in Spanish as he looked toward his family in the back of the courtroom. He is being held under no bail in Sonoma County Jail and is represented by the
Sonoma County Public Defender's Office.

Public Defender Kathleen Pozzi said the judge's order for a doctor's exam was definitely appropriate based on what she knew about the tragic incident.

Ordaz lived in unincorporated Sonoma County near Healdsburg with four children and their mother.

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--Bay City News/Image via Sonoma Sheriff