I know the area they live in. If they had interacted with the neighbors and if the neighbors had seen a woman talking to herself, pulling her hair out, etc. Someone would have tried to help her. Just like most folks, that's just the way Texans are and most other "mothers" who ran across such a thing would do something about it.
Someone seeing this womans condition would have got riled up. And CPS would have been called by someone. With 5 kids in the house you can bet on it. Looks like she was kept tucked away from others though. Still does not excuse what she did, but the people around her clearly contributed to what happened. And her husband, ANY husband, should have known better. He was part of those childrens first line of defense. And nothing he can say or do will ever change that he was not there for them.