Unattended Baby Dies; Mother Tries Suicide

BURBANK —  A woman who neighbors said was suffering from depression apparently tried to commit suicide by jumping off a freeway overpass Wednesday morning, just minutes before her infant son--left unattended by the woman--died of unknown causes, police said.

“It could be the baby died of natural causes and the mother was suffering from postpartum depression,” Burbank Police Lt. Don Brown said.

The tragic series of events began about 10:06 a.m., when Burbank police officers tried to resuscitate 10-day-old Colin McCollough, who had been left alone at his family’s duplex in the 1200 block of North Kenwood Street.

Police said the baby’s father, Jeffrey McCollough, 35, a self-employed roofing contractor, called authorities after he arrived home from work and discovered the infant in a bedroom, bleeding from the mouth.

The boy’s mother--who had been at home with the infant--was gone.

“He was giving CPR to the baby when the officers arrived,” Burbank Sgt. Scott Wilson said.

Paramedics took the baby to St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he was pronounced dead at about 10:30 a.m.

Minutes earlier, California Highway Patrol officers were notified that a woman had jumped from the Hollywood Way overpass onto the Ventura Freeway.

The woman, later identified as the baby’s mother--Tani R. McCollough, 31--was rushed to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where she underwent surgery and was listed in “extremely critical condition,” with a fractured neck, skull and wrist, hospital spokesman Harvey Kern said.

Burbank Lt. Larry Koch said McCollough had apparently walked the mile or so from her home to the freeway before jumping.

Authorities gave conflicting reports of whether McCollough was struck by any cars after she landed on the freeway. One CHP officer said a trucker stopped his vehicle in an effort to protect the woman.

Police have not identified McCollough as a suspect in her son’s death. They are awaiting autopsy results to determine whether the infant died of natural causes.

Inside the couple’s home Wednesday afternoon, bouquets of flowers decorated the kitchen. On a table were two books, “What to Expect Your First Year” and “You Can’t Afford the Luxury of Negative Thoughts.” A banner exclaiming “It’s a Boy!” hung over a doorway leading to the kitchen.

Neighbors and police in interviews described Tani McCollough as depressed.

One neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said that “Tani was getting real panicky” during her pregnancy and that she had said she was worried about caring for the baby.

“Jeffrey was so excited to have a child; this was their first baby,” the neighbor said. “He was aware of the problem, he was always trying to have people around her.”

Patricia Saldana, another neighbor, said that Jeffrey McCollough “had been fixing the place up real nice for the baby.” Saldana said she had planned to offer to baby-sit for the couple because “sometimes you need to get away and have some space for yourself.”

Another neighbor, who lived next-door to the McColloughs said: “They’re a very wonderful family. . . . There’s been a very terrible tragedy. I’m very distraught myself.”

The incident triggered a massive traffic jam on the eastbound Ventura Freeway that lasted more than an hour.

“I saw her falling,” said David Hines, who was heading to Verdugo Hills Hospital in Glendale when he saw McCollough jump from the overpass.

Times staff writer Errol A. Cockfield Jr. contributed to this story.