It’s still not known if the woman is related to the deceased, but D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says the woman is being detained and questioned. There doesn’t appear to be an obvious cause of death, though it appears the children have been dead for quite awhile. We sincerely hope the next Andrea Yates story hasn’t just happened in our backyard.
UPDATE 5:30 p.m.: Mayor Adrian Fenty returned early from his trip to New Hampshire to visit the crime scene. WTOP is reporting that the four juveniles were all related and were not enrolled in any District public or chartered schools. They were apparently being home schooled. The Washington Post says the dead children were all girls and sisters.
Mindy Good, a spokeswoman for Child and Family Services, told the Post that the agency had received one report about the family, in April, and “attempted to investigate.” She said the family had appeared to have vacated the premises.
The woman who answered the door hasn’t been officially identified or charged yet. Police said preliminary findings suggested that the deaths were the result of a domestic situation
UPDATE 8:57 p.m.: The Washington Post is quoting a law enforcement source as saying the woman who answered the door at the house was the mother of the four children.
Photo by the Associated Press
