Mom who ‘smothered kids while singing lullabies’ had recently had them RETURNED to her after they were taken into care

A MOM who allegedly sang lullabies to her kids as she “smothered them to death” had the youngsters taken away from her – only to have them returned prior to the killings, according to court papers.

Rachel Henry, 22, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after admitting she harmed the children in her home in Phoenix, Arizona.

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The kids –  a one-year-old girl, a two-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy – were found in a living room area near the front door of the home at 7.30pm on Monday.

Henry was said to have killed them one by one before propping their bodies on a sofa as though they were sleeping.

A representative from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said that Henry apparently admitted to having a history of addiction to methamphetamine and that her children were previously removed from her care.

However, it’s likely this happened in Oklahoma before Henry moved to Arizona last year – as the Arizona Department of Child Safety told The Arizona Republic it had no previous contacts with the young mom.

Family members told police Henry had recently been “acting strange”.

3TV/CBS 5

Rachel Henry confessed to killing her three young children – all under the age of four – in Arizona on Monday[/caption]

AP:Associated Press

The youngsters lived inside this home with their parents and two other relatives[/caption]

AP:Associated Press

The kids – two girls aged seven months and two years old, and a three-year-old boy – were found inside a living room area[/caption]

But court documents say she was not under the influence of drugs at the time of her kids’ deaths.

Henry, who recently moved to Arizona from Oklahoma, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder.

She allegedly told police she smothered her one-year-old first, wrestling with the child before placing her hand over the child’s mouth while she continued to kick in protest.

‘TAKEN INTO CARE’

Meanwhile her three-year-old son yelled at his mother to stop.

But she continued to smother the baby until she stopped breathing, according to the report. She left the body in the back bedroom.

“Rachel knew she killed the one-year-old female when she stopped kicking,” a Phoenix police investigator wrote.

Henry then chased her three-year-old into a back bedroom before smothering him.

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Police remained at the house Monday night to interview the father and another relative[/caption]

AP:Associated Press

Paramedics tried to revive the youngsters, but all were pronounced dead at the scene[/caption]

“Rachel described singing to the three-year-old as he scratched her chest and pinched her,” the report detailed.

She next fed the seven-month-old female a bottle in her bedroom until she fell asleep.

A court document said she sang her a song while killing her.

The children’s little bodies were then placed on the living room floor as though they were taking a nap, the report says.

A relative who lives at the house called police late Monday, and officers found the kids in a living room with no obvious trauma.

Officers performed CPR on the little children but they were pronounced dead by paramedics.

Detectives haven’t determined exactly what happened in the final moments leading up to the children’s tragic deaths.

The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine how they died.

They’re now trying to figure out what prompted Henry to commit such a senseless act.

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