Sheriff's Deputy Killed Mother of His Kids — Then Dropped Baby Off at Neighbor's, Said to Call 911 Before Taking Own Life

An off-duty sheriff's deputy in California murdered the mother of his children before taking his own life during a standoff with police.

The Santa Rosa Police Department responded just after 7 p.m. on Aug. 10, to a 911 call made by a neighbor of Mari Bonnici, a detention specialist with the Sonoma County Sheriff's Department, at an apartment complex in Santa Rosa, the department wrote on Facebook .

The neighbor said that Bonnici's ex-partner, Sheriff's Deputy Jeremy Lyle, 44, had handed her an infant and instructed her to call 911 "because the child's mother was hurt," then left the area.

When officers arrived at Bonnici's apartment, they forced entry and discovered the 38-year-old's lifeless body with at least one gunshot wound, the SRPD wrote.

Two other children, both toddlers, wer