Mom charged with murder in deaths of 2 children found inside gas-filled Connecticut home

EAST HAVEN, Conn. – A woman was charged with murder in the deaths of her two children, whose bodies were found last week in a home filled with natural gas.

LeRoya Moore was arrested when she was discharged from a hospital where she had been treated for arm injuries that appeared to be self-inflicted on the day the children were found dead in their East Haven home, police said.

Moore, 36, was detained on $2 million bail and was expected to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon on two counts of murder and three counts of reckless endangerment. She was to be represented by the public defender's office, which had no immediate comment.

Police officers found the bodies of 7-year-old Daaron Moore and 6-year-old Aleisha Moore in their home on June 2 after a friend of Moore's called 911 from outside the house. Moore was found with arm injuries that appeared to be the result of a suicide attempt, police said.

"What could one human being say about her, really?" police Chief Brent Larrabee said Wednesday. "It's so tragic."

It's still unclear how the children died. Police believe they had been dead for more than 24 hours when their bodies were found. The medical examiner's office performed autopsies and is awaiting results of toxicology tests before ruling on the causes of their deaths.

Larrabee said the children showed no signs of blunt trauma.

Three officers who responded to the gas-filled house were hospitalized as a precaution for exposure to the fumes, but they weren't seriously hurt. Police believe someone intentionally turned the gas on, but they haven't said who that was.

The 911 caller told police that Moore had sent her a letter threatening suicide.

Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelight vigil for the children last week at the East Haven Green. Moore's ex-husband, Michael Moore, of Bridgeport, said he was struggling to comprehend the deaths of his two children.

LeRoya Moore has a pending assault case in which she is accused of assaulting Michael Moore last year in New Haven. She also was convicted of child abuse and state officials removed two other children from her custody in 2006. Police said she repeatedly beat her 4-year-old daughter with a mop handle.

LeRoya Moore was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to risk of injury to a minor.