A Grass Valley woman facing charges of drowning her young daughter 42 years ago bowed her head and wept quietly Monday during her first appearance in Placer Superior Court.

Patricia Lee Thomas, 66, appeared frail and bewildered as she listened to Judge Larry Gaddis tell her she has been charged with one count of murder in the long-ago death of her 4-year-old child, who investigators originally concluded had drowned accidentally.

Thomas, who has been in the Placer County jail without bail since Friday, wore a red jumpsuit and struggled to dab her tears with shackled hands at Monday's arraignment. A petite woman with wispy brownish-gray hair, she looked out of place among seven other inmates, all decades her junior.

Through her lawyer, criminal defense attorney Thomas Leupp, she pleaded not guilty as a group of family members listened from the gallery.

Thomas, whose last name at that time was Howell, was just 24 years old when her daughter, named Cindy, died on May 25, 1970, in Auburn.

Detectives from the Auburn Police Department investigated the death, and "we did not have any reason to believe that a criminal act had been committed," Chief John Ruffcorn said Monday.

For the 42 years since then, Thomas has lived quietly in the Auburn area, her lawyer said. She raised two other children, and managed a gas station for a time, Leupp said.

He said Thomas retired about two decades ago because of poor health. She has undergone a lung transplant and has kidney problems, among other health challenges, he said.

Late last year, more than four decades after young Cindy Howell's death, Auburn police got a tip that the child had been murdered, Ruffcorn said. Working with the cold crimes unit of the Placer County District Attorney's Office, detectives pieced together information that led to Thomas' arrest.

Ruffcorn declined to discuss specific evidence, but said investigators searched Thomas' home and interviewed potential witnesses in California and Arizona.

Leupp, the defense lawyer, said outside the jail courtroom Monday that his client is shocked and devastated by the charges. "This is a horrific experience for her," he said. "Indescribable."

Ruffcorn said investigators had "no hesitation" about pursuing the a case.

"This victim would have been just about the same age as I am if she were alive," he said. "She missed out on her entire life. It doesn't matter whether it happened today or 42 years ago, we are going to pursue it."

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