A loving mother. A happy baby. A baffling homicide.

Byline: Rebecca Nolan The Register-Guard

By all accounts, Dawn Serrena Young was a loving mother to her 17-month-old daughter, Ruby. Friends and neighbors say she doted on the girl, a smiling, happy baby who had recently learned to walk.

Those same friends and neighbors now ask themselves what could have driven her to do the unthinkable, as police allege.

Police in Red Bluff, Calif., say Young, 34, killed her daughter and left the child's body on the bank of the Sacramento River on Nov. 23. She then crashed her pickup truck into two cars parked at a lumber store.

Officers found her covered in blood from chest wounds that they believe she inflicted on herself. She told police her child was dead and told them where to find the body. The baby had been suffocated, police said.

Young was arraigned Wednesday in Tehema County Superior Court on a charge of murdering her baby. She was being held without bail in the Tehema County Jail.

Young, who goes by her middle name, rents an apartment at 1555 W. 18th Ave. in Eugene. Neighbors said she had lived there for about a year. On Wednesday, her furniture and possessions remained inside.

Friends said Young suffered from bipolar disorder and lived on welfare or Social Security payments. She studied at Lane Community College and spent the rest of her time taking care of Ruby.

Two detectives from Red Bluff searched Young's apartment Wednesday with help from the Eugene police forensics unit. Investigators stepped over a small memorial of toys, children's clothing, candles and notes to Ruby that collected on the doorstep of Young's apartment.

The news of the child's death shocked residents of the Plumtree Apartments.

Richard Glass has lived next door to Young since July. He often saw mother and child playing outside. Over the summer, he watched as Young taught Ruby to walk. He said the girl was inquisitive and intelligent. ``They seemed to have a loving relationship,'' he said. ``Ruby was just starting to toddle around. I was really looking forward to watching Ruby grow.''

Kati Moses met Young at the Soka Gakkai International-USA Center, a Buddhist gathering spot on West 11th Avenue in Eugene. She later learned they both lived in the same apartment building.

Moses said Young had begun showing up at the group's Thursday night meetings about a year ago. She usually brought Ruby along, and she often joined other members for dinner afterward.

On Nov. 22 - the night before Red Bluff police arrested Young on a charge of murder - she had visited another Buddhist's home in Eugene to practice Buddhist chants. She was supposed to return two days later to celebrate Thanksgiving. By then she was in jail.

``Serrena loved that baby so much,'' Moses said. ``Ruby was an amazing baby, a really happy child. I just don't know what happened.''

Young had moved to Eugene from Texas, and she still had a Texas driver's license and Texas plates on her truck. She told Moses she didn't keep in touch with her family.

``She said she didn't like to be in one place very long,'' Moses said.

Young sometimes complained that one of her neighbors made too much noise or was dealing drugs, though others in the building doubted her accusations. Once, she called police on the man, claiming he was having a party when in fact he was home alone, Moses said.

Karl Sorg lived next door to the man for a while and never heard any noise. He said Young was hard to communicate with.

``I thought she acted peculiar,'' Sorg said. ``She would just almost ignore you as though you were on another planet.''

CAPTION(S):

Apartment manager Pat Jacobson looks over the apartment where Dawn Serrena Young and her daughter had lived in Eugene for about a year.