Overview
- The charge covers three counts of first‑degree attempted murder after Keizer police say Chardonnay Marie Benavidez tried to asphyxiate herself and her three young sons by pumping car exhaust into a vehicle.
- Investigators recovered a tube rigged from the car's exhaust into the vehicle and a firearm in the vehicle, and prosecutors told the court the defendant said she had researched methods for about a week.
- Emergency crews transported Benavidez and the children to a Salem hospital for carbon monoxide exposure on Saturday, and the three children were medically cleared while Benavidez was evaluated by psychiatric staff and held on a physician’s order.
- Benavidez was booked at the Marion County Correctional Facility on the attempted murder charges, a judge denied her bail at the initial appearance, and a follow‑up court date is scheduled later this month.
- The children's longer‑term custody and care arrangements have not been detailed in reporting and the father says he was initially blocked from the hospital and that household belongings were removed from the home after the incident.