Officers found the children dead in a third-floor room at about 9 a.m. at the Hampton Inn & Suites. Police in nearby Costa Mesa had called to request that Santa Ana officers check on the childrens' welfare, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.
The childrens' identities were not immediately released. The cause of death was under investigation but was being treated as homicide, Bertagna said.
About an hour before the discovery, Costa Mesa police were called to the scene of a supermarket parking lot where a woman had crashed her car into protective poles surrounding an electrical box, Costa Mesa Sgt. Tim Starn said.
"It was clear that it was an intentional act," Starn said.
As paramedics were preparing to take the injured woman to a hospital, "she made some statements that indicated a crime might have occurred" in Santa Ana, Starn said.
The woman's name was not immediately released but she was driving a car with a Georgia license plate, Starn said. Her relation to the children and her condition were not immediately disclosed.
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