[cheekymarls]

BLACKSTONE, Mass. —The remains of three infants were found inside a vermin-infested home in Blackstone, Worcester Country District Attorney Joseph. D. Early Jr. said Wednesday night.

PHOTOS: HOUSE OF HORRORS HAD DEAD INFANTS, VERMIN
Sources Potential remains of baby found in vermin-infested home
The bodies of three infants have been found in a filthy house where four other children were taken away by authorities last month.
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Watch the report

Early said the investigation was still in its early stages, and said the house was in squalor and has been condemned.

Photos: House of horrors had dead infants, vermin

Blackstone police said a suspect is in custody, and she has been charged in connection to the squalid condition of the home.

Police said she will appear in Uxbridge District Court on Friday.

Officials with the Worcester County District Attorney's Office said Erika Murray, 31, will be arraigned on intimidation of a witness and other charges on Friday morning in Uxbridge District Court.

Nobody has been charged in connection to the deaths of three infants.

Massachusetts State Police, the medical examiner and the Blackstone Police Department are still at the scene investigating.

Early said investigators would be at the home throughout the night and for the next few days.

The genders of the infants who were found inside the home at 23 St. Paul St. have yet to be determined, as well as the manner and causes of death, Early said.

Crews entering the home have had to wear protective clothing and protective gear, and a decontamination process has been set up for crews leaving the home, Early said.

"The house is filled with vermin," he said. "We have flies. We have bugs. We have used diapers, in some areas, as much as a foot-and-a-half to two-feet high. The house is in a deplorable condition."

The remains of several cats and a dog were also found inside the home, officials said.

Neighbors said the smell coming from the home was sickening.

"You could definitely tell that it wasn't clean in there. Even in the dead of winter, the window would be open, and when you walked by on the street, you could definitely smell the house -- just dirtiness, definitely wasn't normal," neighbor John Deane said.

"It's a sad day," Blackstone Police Department Chief Atstupenas said. "At this point here, it's under investigation and I want to thank everyone for their patience at this time."

Early said two weeks ago someone made a complaint to the Department of Children and Families, and four children were removed from the home -- a 6-month-old, a 3-year-old, a 10-year-old and a 13-year-old.

Neighbor Christine Moran said she didn't even know about the baby living in the house.

"I'm shocked," she said. "In seven years I've never even seen her pregnant. The only thing I ever saw was her daughter and son. I can't believe it. I never even heard a baby cry."

The children are now in the custody of the DCF, officials said.

Atstupenas said there is no danger to the public and thanked the community for their continued patience.



Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/news/crime-scene...#ixzz3D5Ojr63B

LINK FOR PHOTOS
http://www.wcvb.com/news/photos-hous...ermin/28021814

Obviously more news to come as more information is at hand

[azdesertsnake01]

SHE??? Well, this is yet another shining example of what I've been saying the past few years. Which is, males no longer have the monopoly on "fucked up" and being morbid! Women can top men sometimes and increasingly so. Such as this case.

[cheekymarls]

This is the monster that killed those babies :(

[Mr Poo]

Fucking insane..

[cheekymarls]

OMG the authorities had taken children from that house before
you would think when they walked in to do that, that they would have noticed the vermin infested house and did more about it? NOT

BLACKSTONE, MASS. — A woman who lived in a squalid, vermin-infested home where the bodies of three infants were found was charged Friday with covering up the deaths, while neighbors said they wish they had acted themselves to call attention to the house with the foul smell and the shades that were always drawn.

Erika Murray, 31, was arraigned on charges including fetal death concealment, witness intimidation and permitting substantial injury to a child. But basic facts remain a mystery or aren't being explained by authorities.

Among them: why it took authorities so long to search the home even after removing four other children from it last month; whether the babies were newborns or fetuses; whether the woman was the mother of all the children; the nature of a 2007 report of abuse or neglect at the house that was not deemed a problem; and the identity of a man who also lived there.

A search by crews in hazmat suits for any more remains continued at the house even as not-guilty pleas were entered for Murray in nearby Uxbridge. A court-appointed defender suggested she was mentally ill.

"You want answers in circumstances like this. ... Mental illness doesn't always provide those kinds of answers," said Keith Halpern, Murray's attorney, after the arraignment. He did not elaborate on her condition.

In Blackstone, a town of less than 10,000 near the Rhode Island border about 50 miles southwest of Boston, residents fretted that such horrors had gone unnoticed.

"I think everyone in town is feeling a little of that today," said Sarah Martin, 29, who often walked by the home with her own 2-year-old daughter but did not know the family. "When something so tragic and heart-wrenching happens, you look back and say, 'Maybe there were clues I could have picked up on.'"

Neighbors said the shades were always drawn; some had noticed a foul smell. A prosecutor said that soiled diapers were piled up 2 feet high and that the remains of several animals had also been found.

The children first came to the attention of police two weeks ago when a 10-year-old boy who lived in the house went to a neighbor and asked, "How do you get a baby to stop crying?" said Tim Connolly, a spokesman for Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr.

The neighbor went with the boy and found the crying baby covered in feces, but no adults around.

Police were called and notified the state Department of Children and Families, which removed the four children — in addition to the 10-year-old, children ages 13, 3 and 6 months — from the home. Murray was then charged with two counts of reckless endangerment, and the house was condemned.

Based on interviews with the two older children, police got a search warrant and went back to the house. That's when they found the remains of three babies, one in a closet on Wednesday and two others on Thursday. A medical examiner is determining whether they were newborns or fetuses.

There was also a man living in the house, and Connolly said he has not been charged with anything.

It's unclear whether anyone fell down on the job. The state Department of Children and Families, already under scrutiny, said Friday that it had received a report of abuse or neglect in 2007, but that it was unsupported and no case was ever opened with the family. The agency did not release details on the nature of the report.

The agency said it responded immediately to the neglect report from Blackstone police and removed the children from the home about one hour later. The lag time between the removal of the older children and the search that led to the discovery of the remains hasn't been explained.

The agency took heat over the case of a 5-year-old boy whose disappearance last year went unnoticed for months even though the boy's family had been monitored by the agency for years. Three employees were fired and a fourth disciplined after an investigation revealed missed social worker visits and other failed opportunities to engage with the family.

A girl who is friends with the 13-year-old who was removed from the home described the girl's mother as determined to keep visitors from entering.

"Like, if it was raining, she'd let the dogs in, but not us," said Taylor Pryor, 13. "Or, if it was, like, snowing or cold or something, she'd only let the animals in and we would have to stay outside, so my mom always told me to go home."

She said she never suspected anything sinister behind the efforts to keep visitors out.

"I just since it was messy. . I thought it was just like a lazy house and they didn't want anyone seeing their mess, but, I guess, it was more than that."

One neighbor said she never heard any major complaints, but noted that her grandchildren once complained the house smelled bad. Another neighbor said she regretted not calling animal control after seeing a dog tied there on a short rope.

A mail carrier, Pam Webster, said that the house appeared dirty and that the children often ate breakfast on the porch.

Barbarajean Calnan, who lived two doors down from Murray's mother, Sharon Murray, in Northbridge, said she knew Erika Murray growing up and was at a loss for words. Erika Murray often came to visit her mother with the two older children, Calnan said, but she never saw any other children.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/...#storylink=cpy

[azdesertsnake01]

Child services almost always either over does it or as in this case, under does it. I've seen them handle many cases over the years and they get it right about as often as politicians do.

In some cases, they remove children from perfectly good homes in the name of their best wellbeing and put them into conditions like this. They just can't seem to get it right.

[Pyramid_Head]

Wonder if any photos of inside will turn up.

[cheekymarls]

Originally Posted by Pyramid_Head ↗

Wonder if any photos of inside will turn up.

I think eventually, maybe not of the babies but the squallor

[adhartz]

Man I am so sick of the mental illness defense in criminal cases. It isn't like that gives people a free pass to do this kind of shit with zero repercussions. Time to bring back or increase the numbers of high security hospitals for the criminally insane.

[TheVrist]

Originally Posted by adhartz ↗

Man I am so sick of the mental illness defense in criminal cases. It isn't like that gives people a free pass to do this kind of shit with zero repercussions. Time to bring back or increase the numbers of high security hospitals for the criminally insane.

Considering we are building a society dependant on anti depressants as the answer to everything, it kind of goes hand in hand, that our criminals too are dysfunctional.