Neighbor Describes Horrifying Discovery In Squalid Blackstone Home
BLACKSTONE (CBS/AP) – The woman who called police about the horrific conditions she found in a Blackstone home shared the story of the discovery that still haunts her.
A biohazard team was back in Blackstone Monday for a fifth straight day at the home where the bodies of three infants were found after the neighbor reported she found four other children living in squalor.
Erika Murray, 31, was charged Friday with fetal death concealment and other counts after authorities found the bodies in her squalid, vermin-infested home at 23 St. Paul St.
I-Team: Police Visited Home 29 Times
A medical examiner is determining whether the remains were newborns or fetuses, and how they died. Murray's lawyer said he's optimistic that forensic testing will show the babies weren't born alive, and therefore weren't harmed or killed by his client.
State officials took custody of Murray's four children, ages 6 months to 13 years, on August 28 after discovering the dirty conditions of the home — which prosecutors and neighbors said included soiled diapers piled up 2 feet high and the remains of several animals.
Authorities found the bodies of the babies last week after getting a search warrant.
The neighbor who called police was very emotional as she told WBZ-TV's Christina Hager about the horrifying scene she discovered.
She asked WBZ not to show her face or reveal her name as she described going into the house after hearing a baby's cries coming from this home and being let in by Murray's 10-year-old boy.
The neighbor knew a 13-year-old and the 10-year-old lived there but never imagined a 4-month old and a 3-year-old toddler also did.
"She was lying in a bed covered in feces, feces all on the wall, dirty diapers, stuff everywhere, there's really no way to describe it," the neighbor said as she described the conditions where she found the baby in an upstairs room.
"She didn't act like she had ever been held before," she woman recalled. "She didn't know how to, like, hold onto me."
The neighbor said she then found the toddler, who was sitting on the bed rocking back and forth "almost violently."
The child had maggots and feces on her and when the neighbor couldn't find anything else to wipe her off she took off her tank top to clean the baby.
"I wish I could have got in their earlier," she said. "All I want for them is better."
That neighbor stayed with the babies, even after police arrived, until Murray came home. She says she had to ask her: "Did you know those babies were upstairs when you left this morning? I want you to look at me in the eye as a mother and explain to me whether you knew those babies were upstairs."
The woman said Murray responded, "I knew they were there."
First Look Inside
Court documents related to the August 28 search of the home were released Monday. The paperwork included two photos of the basement from that day, providing the first look inside the house.
Health Inspector Bill Walsh said he expects the cost of the cleanup to exceed $40,000. Three dumpsters worth of trash and 21 containers of biohazardous material were removed from the home.
Town officials say a decision on possible demolition of the home won't be made for several days.
The documents claim Murray had not told anyone in her family, including her two oldest children, that the younger children living in the home were hers. When police asked her why that was, she told them she wasn't planning on having two younger children, because she could not afford it.
Murray's lawyer, Keith Halpern, told the Associated Press that he's hopeful the tests will show the dead infants were stillborn. He also expects DNA testing to show that Murray and her longtime boyfriend were the parents of the infants.
The boyfriend hasn't been charged in connection with the dead infants or the conditions in the home, where he also lived.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Karen Twomey reports
Blackstone Officials Stunned By Extent Of Contamination In Home
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