US woman charged with murdering her three sons, aged 2 months, 5 years and 8 years

An Arizona mother who prosecutors say stabbed her three young sons to death and stashed their bodies in a bedroom closet in her north Phoenix home has been indicted on murder charges, according to an indictment made public on Tuesday.

Octavia Rene Rogers, 29, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of her sons, aged 2 months, 5 years and 8 years, in the Maricopa County Superior Court indictment handed down on Monday.


Police said the two oldest boys, Jaikare Rahaman and Jeremiah Adams, were found partially dismembered amid clothes and boxes inside the closet. Two-month-old Avery Robinson was discovered in a suitcase.

The cause of death was multiple stab wounds to each child, police said.
Rogers was hospitalised with what police described as self-inflicted stab wounds to her abdomen and neck on June 2 and booked into custody three days later.

Authorities were called to the house by Rogers' brother, who also lived there. He said Rogers, in a conversation in the garage, talked about religion and how she found the answer to life before locking him out. The brother broke in and found her bleeding and called 911.

Arriving officers found the bleeding woman in the bathtub, police said.

The woman initially said the children were being cared for elsewhere, but authorities searched the home and found the three dead children.

It has not yet been determined whether prosecutors will seek the death penalty, a Maricopa County Attorney's Office spokeswoman said.

 - Reuters