Woman Pleads Not Guilty in Deaths of Kids (blessed the children before suffocating them)

AP ^ | 1-30-06 | DANIEL CONNOLLY

[Indy Pendance]

DE QUEEN, Ark. (AP) - A woman accused of smothering her three children was distraught over the breakup of her marriage and told police that she blessed the children before suffocating them, a prosecutor said Monday.

Eleazar Paula Mendez pleaded not guilty to three counts of capital murder and was ordered held without bail Monday. The judge also ordered a mental evaluation.

Mendez, 43, told investigators she tried to kill herself on Friday by ingesting ant poison, Prosecutor Tom Cooper said. She said the children saw her take the pesticide and asked her to kill them, too, he said.

``'I blessed them and then I suffocated them,''' Mendez told investigators, according to Cooper.

[VeritatisSplendor]

She said the children saw her take the pesticide and asked her to kill them, too, he said.

Who could believe this?

Mrs VS

[NatsFan]

She is claiming she did this because she was distraught over her husband leaving. Undoubtedly people will feel sorry for her and put blame on the husband. But I wonder how much sympathy it would provoke if a father murdered three of his children over because his wife left him?