Woman Arrested After Remains of Three Infants Recovered from Blackstone Home

Police detained a woman Thursday in connection with the bodies of three infants found in a filthy home in Blackstone, Massachusetts.

The 31-year-old woman identified as Erika Murray, is the resident of the house. According to the police, she will be arraigned Friday in the Uxbridge District Court on a witness intimidation charge, as well as other unspecified charges related to the living conditions in the house.

Police recovered the bodies from the rat-infested house Thursday, from where four other children were removed by officials last month, said a Massachusetts prosecutor. The cause of death and the gender of the infants remain unknown. "The house is in squalor," Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early said, reports Reuters.

"The house is filled with vermin. We have flies, we have bugs, we have used diapers in some areas as much as a foot-and-a-half, two feet high," said Early. That depth is equivalent to about half a meter. He said that the investigators searching the home had to wear hazmat suits and undergo a decontamination process after they left. The incident is being now investigated as a case of reckless endangerment of children.

Last month, a neighbor informed police about the living conditions of the house following which four children aged 13, 10, 3 and 6 months old were removed from the house. Early said the 6-month-old was found covered with feces lying on a bed, reports the Associated Press.

The arrested woman misled a police investigation into the incident at the house, Worcester County District Attorney spokesman Tim Connolly said. He did not divulge further details related to the case.

Neighbors were seemingly in shock after the discovery of the dead. "I go down this street every day," said one neighbor, she couldn't believe what was unfolding, reports Boston Herald. Another neighbor Christine Morin, 58, said, "I only ever saw the two kids. Never, never saw the babies."

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