Jan. 28, 2006, was a chilly, dreary, overcast day with intermittent rain.

Then it became depressing.

Three children, 5-year-old twins Samantha Morales Mendez and Samuel Morales Mendez and 7-year-old Elvis Morales Mendez, had been smothered by their mother, 43-year-old Paula Mendez.

De Queen Police Chief Richard McKinley described it as the saddest criminal investigation.

“It is impossible to describe what we found inside the house. This has to be the saddest crime that I have ever seen,” he said.

The officers found the bodies of ...

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