A Trinity County judge ruled yesterday that Claudia Pedreros – the McKinleyville woman who stands accused of murdering her two-year-old child two weeks ago – would have to undergo psychological tests to evaluate her fitness to stand trial. (Times-Standard coverage here; Redding Record-Searchlight coverage here.) 

Meanwhile, in Pedreros’ native Chile, the media is starting to pay attention to the case. Numerous newspaper reports have appeared about the case; friends, relatives and other fellow chilenos are taking to those stories’ comments section to express support for Pedreros, and sometimes to offer alternative theories of the death of Sophia Pedreros Parker.

It seems that the first mention of the case in a Chilean newspaper came from El Austral de la Araucanía, a regional paper serving Pedreros’ home province of Puerto Montt. The Austral‘s report – which seems to have served as the template for several subsequent newspaper stories – contained numerous errors. Most importantly, it reported that Pedreros lived in “Humboldt, Texas,” and that the crime took place in neighboring “Trinity, Texas.” Multiple commenters pointed out the error, and one went so far as to bemoan the general state of Chilean journalism. “If you’re going to work in international news, buy a map and take a close look at the places where the news happens,” wrote Ana Luisa Muñoz García.

The reporter, apparently, was not taken aback. In a succeeding report, he noted that Texas has one of the highest death penalty rates in the U.S.

The original report was reprinted on the Chilean news portal Emol.cl, and the most active discussion of the issue seems to be taking place there. Numerous commenters offer moral support to Pedreros, and wonder whether the pressures of emigration contributed to her reported mental problems.

Many commenters who knew Pedreros expressed shock and disbelief. “This is incredible, I met Claudia when she lived in Traiguén and she was a totally normal and happy person,” wrote one friend, Xime Martínez Salgado. “I can’t believe it! Something very traumatic must have happened for this to have occurred.”

Perhaps having known Pedreros in this way, others were very skeptical of the official reports. Nibaldo Alvarez Velasquez, who claims to be Pedreros’ uncle, put forward an entire countervailing theory of the case based on reports from “friends and neighbors of the family of the woman currently detained in Texas.” Pedreros, he hypothesizes, was actually trying to flee from an abusive husband across the Trinity River, carrying her child in her arms. Sophia Pedreros Parker, he writes, fell from the woman’s arms into the river.

In reality, Robert Parker – Pedreros’ husband – was nowhere near the scene when his daughter was killed. Another commenter takes Alvarez to task for his “ignorance” of how the events unfolded.

Find more Chilean coverage and commentary on the Pedreros case here.