More ABC news videos | Latest world newsCopyA woman who lived in a squalid, vermin-infested home whe...

1. Charges in Dead Babies Case; Neighbors Soul-Search
More ABC news videos | Latest world news
Copy
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 bail bonds
San Diego 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 http://www.accessbailbonding.com/
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 bail bonds California 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.

2. 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.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/babies-bodies-found-house-full-vermin-bugs-25450330