Very sad news story in my town

amynicole21 wrote: A woman who lives within 2 miles of me killed her three children and hid their bodies in her home. There were news helicopters flying over my house all day yesterday, and we didn't know why until the 6 o'clock news. So tragic. Here's the story:

News story

booey2 replied: Sorry tried to read it but you have to be registered. Hugs to you.

amynicole21 replied: Sorry... didn't realize you had to be registered. Here is the story if anyone wants to read it. It is sort of disturbing, so be prepared:

LONGWOOD -- It was a little before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when Gary Lee Williams began searching his Georgia Avenue home with the help of police. He had just heard that his estranged wife, Andrea Noel Williams, was arrested the day before in North Carolina and that their children were not with her.

The search turned up no sign of the children, but Williams stayed behind at the tidy, well-kept home, changing the locks on the doors and doing other odd jobs.

Four hours later, police returned, knowing they would uncover something terrible.

Hidden in a bedroom were the bodies of Ilona, 9; Ian, 6; and Ivey, 5. They had been stuffed between the mattresses of a trundle bed, overlooked by investigators and their father the first time.

There was no apparent trauma to their bodies and no immediate indication how they died, police said. Autopsies are planned.

Their mother, twice committed last year to a mental-health facility but known by neighbors as a "good mom," confessed to killing the children, authorities said. Her motive is unclear.

Andrea Williams was arrested Monday evening in Catawba County, N.C., on trespassing charges. Early Tuesday, she told investigators that her children were home, Catawba County Sheriff David Huffman said. Williams didn't say anything about their condition.

But Williams later spoke with a female investigator who works on cases involving child abuse or neglect. Huffman would not say what she told the investigator. But soon after that interview, North Carolina authorities contacted Longwood police with information that sent them back to the house.

Williams had confessed to killing the children, Catawba sheriff's Maj. Coy Reid told The Charlotte Observer.Catawba County investigators told Longwood police what they would find and where they would find it.

A police investigator and a prosecutor from the Seminole-Brevard State Attorney's Office left Tuesday afternoon for North Carolina, where Williams will have an extradition hearing later this week.

Women lived together

Andrea Williams was detained in Catawba County on Monday after she was found wandering outside a house belonging to Ashley Bishop.

Bishop lived with Williams at her Longwood home for about four months in mid-2003, when both women were estranged from their husbands. In an interview with the Observer, Bishop said Williams had become obsessed with her and wanted her to return to Florida.

Bishop told the newspaper that Williams called her about 10 a.m. Friday from a hotel in Mooresville, N.C., and demanded to see her. Williams had her children with her, and they went to Bishop's home later that day, Bishop said. Williams asked Bishop to spend the night with her at the hotel.

"I said, 'Absolutely not,' " Bishop told the Observer. "She started freaking out, getting upset, crying, screaming, saying she couldn't deal with things. I left."

Williams drove back to Florida on Saturday morning but called Bishop from Longwood about 10 p.m. Saturday, leaving a message that she planned to return to North Carolina. Williams was seen by neighbors in Longwood as late as Sunday afternoon. The children's whereabouts then are unknown.

Bishop told the Observer that Williams called her again Monday afternoon from a pay phone in Mooresville. She asked Bishop to pick her up. Bishop refused.

It wasn't the first time Williams had reacted badly to Bishop's rejection, according to the Observer.

During a telephone call in October, Williams asked Bishop to return to Florida, but Bishop refused, she told the newspaper.

Bishop quoted Williams as saying, " 'Well, here's what I'm going to do. You can feel guilty for it. I'm going to kill my kids, because they don't need to suffer like I have, and then I'm going to kill myself.' "

That threat prompted Bishop to call officials in Longwood, she told the Observer. Longwood police Chief Tom Jackson told the Sentinel that officers went to Williams' home and hospitalized her under the state's Baker Act, which lets authorities detain people who they think may pose a danger to themselves or others.

Williams was hospitalized again in November under the Baker Act after she took prescription pain pills and alcohol in an apparent suicide attempt, Jackson said.

Gary Williams unsuccessfully tried to gain custody of his children, citing his estranged wife's hospitalizations, Jackson said he was told.

'Absolute disbelief'

Tuesday evening, Gary Williams joined neighbors and friends in a candlelight vigil as investigators and medical examiners worked to remove the children's bodies from their Longwood home. He would not talk to reporters.

Earlier in the day, when police found the children, his reaction was one of "absolute disbelief" that they were in the home, Jackson said. "He said, 'I searched with you.' "

"I don't know how she did it," Jackson said. "She had them wedged between the trundle mattress and the main mattress."

"Based on my experience," Jackson said, "I would say they had been dead for days."

Neighbors said they saw nothing out of the ordinary the past few days. Many were shocked, calling the children "the best kids in the neighborhood" and praising Andrea Williams for the way she raised them.

"They were good kids," neighbor Larry Bailiff said. "They were always riding their bicycles up and down the street. This is a quiet neighborhood."

"She was a good mom," said another neighbor, Nicole Woodburn. "They were the sweetest, cutest kids. They were angels."

Bill Henderson, principal of Choices in Learning Charter School, which the two older children attended, also called them "well-behaved and well-liked."

"They were good students," he said. "There were never any concerns raised about behavior or academics."

Ilona, a third-grader, had attended the charter school for all three years that it has existed. Ian was new this year.

Andrea Williams watched other children in her home until about a year ago, neighbors said. When she stopped doing that, she said she was going back to school to be a nurse, but that never happened, said Jane Sims, Woodburn's mother.

Neighbors last saw Williams on Sunday afternoon.

"She said, 'Hi,' " Woodburn recalled. " 'Happy Mother's Day, Nicole.' "

A&A'smommy replied: OMG that is horrible!

kit_kats_mom replied: I had read about that on CNN's website. People like that really disturb me. How could you, even at your most angry/insane moment, do in a child? I just don't get it. So awful

Mom2Boyz replied: That is just awful!! What could possibly drive you to the point of killing your children?

Kirstenmumof3 replied: That is just so sad. Those poor children.

MomToMany replied: Very sad! I feel so sorry for those children, but no sympathy for the mom.

bellymonstersmama replied: This never should have happened. Why weren't the children placed in the father's care?

amynicole21 replied: I don't know why he couldn't get custody after she had been Baker Acted Twice!! ... it's just horrible. Reports are now that she drugged the kids on mother's day. Such a tragedy.

aspenblue1 replied: That is so sad! Those poor children.

Boys r us replied: Oh dear God, those poor little Angels and that poor father! I cannot even fathom the pain he must be experiencing!

coasterqueen replied: I couldn't read it, I just can't stand sad stuff like this, they consume me. But I'm sure it is sad. My p&pt's will be with the family.

jem0622 replied: Just another sad example of how spouses and the mental health system fail many (even the mother) and the children fall victim in the end. Very sad.

This mother will have a life of many troubles. So many cry for help and people just tell them to cope and deal. They have no idea what mental illness or severe PPD is like.

A sad time for this family. I wish they'd pay attention and see that this is a problem that keeps repeating itself.

Lollie replied: That is sooo sad!!I can't even fathom how someone can do that to their children.My prayers and thoughts are with the family left behing who have to deal with this.