INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Mom Charged With Murdering Babies In ‘House Of Horrors’ Case, Her Lawyer Is ‘Disappointed’

By Cheryl Phillips
Published on: 02:20 PST, Dec 17, 2014

Erika Murray has been charged with murdering her babies, months after the bodies of two infants and a fetus were found her Massachusetts home, one that has been dubbed a “House of Horrors.” Murray’s lawyer, Keith Halpern told reporters on Tuesday that he is “disappointed” that his client was charged with two counts of murder and seven other charges, stating that there is “no evidence” that she did anything to cause the death of “any of these infants.”

CNN reports that back in September, police officers had to wear hazmat suits to retrieve the bodies of the dead infants in Erika Murray‘s Blackstone, Massachusetts home. The two-story house, located on the Rhode Island border, was filled with piles of dirty diapers, rodents and insects, dead animals and walls smeared with feces.

In addition to the skeletal remains of two babies and a fetus that was found with its placenta still attached, Murray and her boyfriend, Raymond Rivera reportedly had four other children living in the house ranging in age from 5 months to 13 years old.

The Boston Globe reports that Murray, 31, was not only charged with murder, she was also indicted on two counts of assault and battery on a child causing substantial injury, two counts of reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of concealing a fetal death. She is being held on $1 million bail pending her December 29 arraignment.

Murray’s lawyer, Keith Halpern tells the Associated Press that his client has mental health issues. He states that he is “disappointed” that his client was indicted for murder and there is no evidence of how her babies died. Erica Murray told her attorney that “only one of the three infants was born alive” and she later found the baby dead after putting it down for a nap.

“There’s no evidence that she did anything to cause the death of any of these infants. There’s no evidence of how they died.”

WCVB reports that one of the three dead infants was found “stuffed inside a backpack” inside the closet of a bedroom that was occupied by two of Murray’s two oldest children, 10 and 13.

Erika Murray isn’t the only person being charged in the “House of Horrors” case. Her boyfriend, Raymond Rivera, 38, was also indicted on Tuesday, with the Boston Globe reporting that seven charges were brought against him, including two counts of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, two counts of reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of cultivating marijuana. He is being held on $100,000 bail and is due back in court on January 14.

Rivera lived in the house with Murray but claims “he had no idea” how bad the condition of the house was and was unaware that he fathered more than two of the children in the house. Assistant District Attorney John E. Bradley Jr. stated in court on Tuesday that there was “simply no way he [Rivera] did not know” about the babies because Rivera had slept in a room with Murray that was only “7 or 8 feet from where the children were confined.”

DNA tests confirmed that the four children living in the Massachusetts home, as well as the three dead infants, were all the biological children of Erika Murray and Raymond Rivera.

[Image: WCVB]

Share this article: Mom Charged With Murdering Babies In ‘House Of Horrors’ Case, Her Lawyer Is ‘Disappointed’
Crime
More from Inquisitr