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Mom Hangs Herself & 3 Kids
HUDSON OAKS, Texas - Inside her rural, locked home, Gilberta Estrada apparently fashioned nooses for each of her four young children using clothing and sashes.
Then, after each of them was dangling, authorities believe she made one for herself, leaned in, buckled her knees and died.
Her panicked sister discovered the bodies Tuesday, after she forced her way into the trailer home when the woman's boss called to say she hadn't shown up for work. Pulling back a sheet covering a large closet, she saw the mother and three of the children dead.
The only survivor was an 8-month-old baby, saved by her aunt when she made a noise in her tiny noose, made out of a sweater.
"It's horrendous; that's all I can say," said Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler.
Police investigating the deaths at the Oak Hills mobile home park, about 25 miles west of Fort Worth, said the hangings appeared to be a murder-suicide because the trailer's doors were locked from the inside and a relative said the woman had been depressed. She also was separated from the father of some of the children.
The infant, Evelyn Frayre, was listed in good condition Tuesday at a Fort Worth hospital, Fowler said.
The timeline of the deaths wasn't certain; the 25-year-old mother and her girls were last seen alive Monday evening. Authorities also were trying to determine what caused her actions.
Authorities did not immediately identify the other children, but Fowler said they were apparently ages 5, 3 and 2.
Filly Echeverria, who said she was the children's godmother, identified the dead as Maria Teresa Estrada, Janet Frayre and Magaly Frayre.
The sheriff said Estrada had won a temporary restraining order in August against Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez, who was believed to be the father of the infant and some of the other children, after an attack on Estrada.
The sheriff said the couple had stopped living together in February. Tuesday was the first emergency police call to Estrada's trailer, and authorities said there was no evidence that Frayre abused the girls.
Hudson Oaks Worried when her sister's employer called to say she hadn't shown up for work Tuesday, Alejandra Estrada ran across the street of her mobile home park, forced her way inside a trailer and made a gruesome discovery.
She pulled back a sheet serving as a makeshift door to the large bedroom closet and saw her 25-year-old sister, Gilberta Estrada, and her four nieces -- ages 5, 3, 2 and 8 months -- hanging from fabric nooses tied around a clothes rod, said Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler.
Alejandra Estrada heard sounds from the 8-month-old -- who was hanging by her tiny neck from the arm of a sweater -- quickly pulled the baby out of the noose and then called for help, Fowler said. There were no stools or chairs under the bodies, Fowler said. After hanging her daughters, Gilberta Estrada apparently tied the noose around her neck, leaned into it and buckled her knees to kill herself, he said.
"It's horrendous; that's all I can say," he said. "It's just something you don't want to see."
Authorities believed it was a murder-suicide. The doors of the dilapidated trailer were locked from the inside and a relative said the woman had been depressed.
But Fowler also noted that Gilberta Estrada had won a temporary restraining order in August against Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez, believed to be the father of the infant and some of the other children, after an attack on the woman.
Fowler said the couple had stopped living together in February. Tuesday was the first emergency police call to Gilberta Estrada's trailer, and Fowler said there was no evidence that Frayre abused the girls.
Attempts to reach Frayre, 38, were not immediately successful.
Child Protective Services will decide who takes custody of the baby, Fowler said.
The infant, Evelyn Frayre, was listed in good condition at a hospital in Fort Worth, about 25 miles east of the trailer park, Fowler said.
Filly Echeverria, who said she was the children's godmother, identified the dead children as Maria Teresa Estrada, Janet Frayre and Magaly Frayre.
The woman and her daughters were last seen alive outside the trailer Monday evening, Fowler said. He said more information, such as how long they had been dead and whether they were drugged or suffocated before being hanged, could be revealed after the autopsies were performed Wednesday.
Outside the white trailer with brown trim were cactus plants and rose bushes, and a bicycle, plastic cars and other toys cluttered the backyard.
After authorities removed the bodies and other evidence in the rain Tuesday, neighbors gathered on their front porches, some crying.
"She was a good mother, and she seemed happy," Echeverria said.
Many said they were stunned by the deaths at the run-down trailer park, which is located just off Interstate 20 in this rural town of about 1,600. Paint is peeling off many of the trailers and items are strewn about the yards.
"I just got a big kick out of watching the kids play over there on her porch, and today it's sad, very sad," neighbor Joyce Harris said.
The slayings came nearly five years after another woman in Hudson Oaks killed her three children. On July 16, 2002, Dee Etta Perez, 39, shot her 4-year-old daughter and sons, ages 9 and 10, before killing herself.
Texas has seen a disturbing number of child killings by mothers in recent years.
Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family's Houston bathtub in 2001. In 2003, Deanna Laney beat her two young sons to death and injured a third with stones in East Texas, and Lisa Ann Diaz drowned her two daughters in a Plano bathtub. Dena Schlosser fatally severed her 10-month-old daughter's arms with a kitchen knife in 2004.
All four of those women were found innocent by reason of insanity. Yates initially was convicted of capital murder, but that was overturned on appeal.
Then, after each of them was dangling, authorities believe she made one for herself, leaned in, buckled her knees and died.
Her panicked sister discovered the bodies Tuesday, after she forced her way into the trailer home when the woman's boss called to say she hadn't shown up for work. Pulling back a sheet covering a large closet, she saw the mother and three of the children dead.
The only survivor was an 8-month-old baby, saved by her aunt when she made a noise in her tiny noose, made out of a sweater.
"It's horrendous; that's all I can say," said Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler.
Police investigating the deaths at the Oak Hills mobile home park, about 25 miles west of Fort Worth, said the hangings appeared to be a murder-suicide because the trailer's doors were locked from the inside and a relative said the woman had been depressed. She also was separated from the father of some of the children.
The infant, Evelyn Frayre, was listed in good condition Tuesday at a Fort Worth hospital, Fowler said.
The timeline of the deaths wasn't certain; the 25-year-old mother and her girls were last seen alive Monday evening. Authorities also were trying to determine what caused her actions.
Authorities did not immediately identify the other children, but Fowler said they were apparently ages 5, 3 and 2.
Filly Echeverria, who said she was the children's godmother, identified the dead as Maria Teresa Estrada, Janet Frayre and Magaly Frayre.
The sheriff said Estrada had won a temporary restraining order in August against Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez, who was believed to be the father of the infant and some of the other children, after an attack on Estrada.
The sheriff said the couple had stopped living together in February. Tuesday was the first emergency police call to Estrada's trailer, and authorities said there was no evidence that Frayre abused the girls.
Hudson Oaks Worried when her sister's employer called to say she hadn't shown up for work Tuesday, Alejandra Estrada ran across the street of her mobile home park, forced her way inside a trailer and made a gruesome discovery.
She pulled back a sheet serving as a makeshift door to the large bedroom closet and saw her 25-year-old sister, Gilberta Estrada, and her four nieces -- ages 5, 3, 2 and 8 months -- hanging from fabric nooses tied around a clothes rod, said Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler.
Alejandra Estrada heard sounds from the 8-month-old -- who was hanging by her tiny neck from the arm of a sweater -- quickly pulled the baby out of the noose and then called for help, Fowler said. There were no stools or chairs under the bodies, Fowler said. After hanging her daughters, Gilberta Estrada apparently tied the noose around her neck, leaned into it and buckled her knees to kill herself, he said.
"It's horrendous; that's all I can say," he said. "It's just something you don't want to see."
Authorities believed it was a murder-suicide. The doors of the dilapidated trailer were locked from the inside and a relative said the woman had been depressed.
But Fowler also noted that Gilberta Estrada had won a temporary restraining order in August against Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez, believed to be the father of the infant and some of the other children, after an attack on the woman.
Fowler said the couple had stopped living together in February. Tuesday was the first emergency police call to Gilberta Estrada's trailer, and Fowler said there was no evidence that Frayre abused the girls.
Attempts to reach Frayre, 38, were not immediately successful.
Child Protective Services will decide who takes custody of the baby, Fowler said.
The infant, Evelyn Frayre, was listed in good condition at a hospital in Fort Worth, about 25 miles east of the trailer park, Fowler said.
Filly Echeverria, who said she was the children's godmother, identified the dead children as Maria Teresa Estrada, Janet Frayre and Magaly Frayre.
The woman and her daughters were last seen alive outside the trailer Monday evening, Fowler said. He said more information, such as how long they had been dead and whether they were drugged or suffocated before being hanged, could be revealed after the autopsies were performed Wednesday.
Outside the white trailer with brown trim were cactus plants and rose bushes, and a bicycle, plastic cars and other toys cluttered the backyard.
After authorities removed the bodies and other evidence in the rain Tuesday, neighbors gathered on their front porches, some crying.
"She was a good mother, and she seemed happy," Echeverria said.
Many said they were stunned by the deaths at the run-down trailer park, which is located just off Interstate 20 in this rural town of about 1,600. Paint is peeling off many of the trailers and items are strewn about the yards.
"I just got a big kick out of watching the kids play over there on her porch, and today it's sad, very sad," neighbor Joyce Harris said.
The slayings came nearly five years after another woman in Hudson Oaks killed her three children. On July 16, 2002, Dee Etta Perez, 39, shot her 4-year-old daughter and sons, ages 9 and 10, before killing herself.
Texas has seen a disturbing number of child killings by mothers in recent years.
Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family's Houston bathtub in 2001. In 2003, Deanna Laney beat her two young sons to death and injured a third with stones in East Texas, and Lisa Ann Diaz drowned her two daughters in a Plano bathtub. Dena Schlosser fatally severed her 10-month-old daughter's arms with a kitchen knife in 2004.
All four of those women were found innocent by reason of insanity. Yates initially was convicted of capital murder, but that was overturned on appeal.
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