Crews demolish Mass. home where babies' bodies found

A four-man demolition crew has started tearing down the squalid Massachusetts house in which the skeletal remains of three dead infants were found.

View photos of the demolition

The home's owner had until 9 a.m. Tuesday to contact the town or seek a court order to halt the demolition, but failed to do so, Blackstone Town Administrator Daniel Keyes said.

"We have a professional demolition team in there right now," he said as a backhoe clawed at the outer walls.

All utilities had been shut off and someone went through the building to make sure no one was inside before work began, he said.

The town's fire department was hosing down the debris and dust to contain the offensive odors still emanating from the home which had been filled with dirty diapers, animal carcasses and infested with insects and rodents.

Blackstone's Board of Health ordered the demolition, which is expected to take two days.

Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment. She has pleaded not guilty.

Murray's lawyer Keith Halpern said last week that she appears to have mental health issues. He said Murray told him the dead infants were born starting about eight years ago and at least one was born alive and lived a few days before she found the child dead in a bassinet. The state medical examiner has not determined how old the babies were or how they died.

Murray's other four children, ranging in age from 6 months to 13 years, were removed from the house in August. Authorities found the infants' remains in a more thorough search a few weeks later.

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Crews demolish Mass. home where babies' bodies found