Video: Mother confesses to killing son

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The crime was horrific and heartbreaking: a child suffocated, then buried in a playground. We've all heard the story, but for the first time we are hearing it directly from a mother who murdered her son.

In total Tiffany Toribio's late night confession takes about two hours. At first she denies it, but when she finally admits to what she's done she also makes some stunning admissions we haven't heard until now.

“I just did that and I held his mouth,” Toribio tells investigators as she is seen on the video holding the mouth and nose of a teddy bear investigator’s gave her to re-enact the crime.

Toribio murdered her three year old son, Tyrus, in Alvarado Park three years ago this month. No one knew who he was or who buried him in the sand two days before he was found. The police department, desperate for leads, made a sketch of the boy. That sketch turned out to be spot on and led police to Toribio.

In the interview Tiffany tells investigators her son’s death was an accident. “We were just at the park and we fell asleep and when we woke up he wasn't breathing,” Toribio said.

After listening to the story, an investigator tells her, “I don't believe you Tiffany. I think you know what, exactly what happened.”

Detectives press her, and she gives in.

“I just held him down and I made him stop breathing,” Toribio said. “…I held his nose and his mouth.”

Toribio tells them she's had a rough life and doesn't want the same for her son. Then she makes the most chilling confession; admitting she gave her son CPR after he stopped breathing, only to kill him when he came back to life. She then tells detectives she tried to give him CPR again but he wouldn’t come back a second time. She tells them he squirmed to get free from her as she suffocated him.

Toribio told investigators that she got drunk with a man she met in the park in the hours after the murder, and then bounced around town for 6 days. She tells them she went back to the park after her son was found and watched as people held vigils. The 23 year old was arrested a week after the murder.

Toribio took a deal last month and pled guilty to second degree murder. She was sentenced to 23 years. She could be out by the time she's 46.