Maria Isabella Amaya

Case overview

Maria Isabella Amaya, aged 36, stabbed her four children to death and then swallowed lye in an unsuccessful suicide attempt. She was under psychiatric care at the time of the killings and had a history of psychological problems. Amaya was found competent to stand trial. She entered a plea of not responsible by reason of mental defect, and the plea was accepted. She remained hospitalized after the plea was accepted.

The offence

Amaya killed three boys and a girl. The children were identified as Halley William Jr., 11; Jessica, 8; Christopher, 6; and Edward, 3 1/2. Police found the children in various rooms with pillows or stuffed animals near their faces. The children were stabbed with a kitchen knife. Police also found the children lying in different spots around the first-floor apartment, with knife wounds in the neck.

Amaya was badly hurt from self-inflicted stab wounds and regained consciousness shortly after police entered the apartment. Police also reported burns on her body and said they were trying to determine what had caused them. After the killings, Amaya swallowed lye in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

Background

Amaya was an immigrant from El Salvador. She and her husband, Halley William Amaya, emigrated from El Salvador a decade earlier and had lived in the small Victorian-style house at 63 Summerfield Place for the last three years. Friends and neighbors described the Amayas as a reserved couple who often argued.

Friends and neighbors gathered outside the Amaya home after the killings. A child's drawing of a bunny was taped to the front storm door, Christmas lights still hung from the roof of the house, and a white ceramic swan sat at the top of the steps on the front porch.

At the Methodist church a block away from the Amayas' house, the Rev. Gary Betts lamented that he had failed to reach out to the family. Neighbors said the family were Mormons.

Amaya was on medication for depression for the last eight months and had been scheduled to see a psychiatrist on the afternoon of the killings.

Investigation

Police were called to 63 Summerfield Place at 2:50 P.M. after receiving a telephone tip. Officers went to the house and found the four children stabbed to death in their apartment. Police also found Amaya unconscious, with blood around her neck.

Police Chief Carl Verastro said one of the parents was a suspect and that they expected to make an arrest soon. Police said they did not know what led Amaya to kill the children and did not give details about the psychiatric hospitalization beyond that it was for mental problems.

A neighbor, Andreas Orphanos, said the children's father came to her before the police arrived. Orphanos said he gave her a card with a telephone number and told her: "Please call this doctor. She killed the little ones and she tried to kill herself." Orphanos said she made the phone call to a White Plains number but did not know to whom she had spoken.

Friends and neighbors described the Amayas as having not shown abuse; Jeanine Pirro, an assistant District Attorney in charge of cases involving domestic violence, said: "There was never any thought that the family was abusing the children."

Arrest and arraignment

Amaya was arraigned on four counts of second-degree murder. She was in the intensive care unit of United Hospital at the time of arraignment and was expected to be moved to a detention center when doctors permitted.

Police Chief Carl Verastro said Amaya was coherent and understood the charges against her.

Police said Amaya's husband reported the slayings to police in a telephone call after becoming worried when his wife failed to show up for her psychiatrist's appointment and then went home and found the bodies. Police said officers who responded to his call found the four children in various rooms with pillows or stuffed animals near their faces.

Trial and plea

She entered a plea of not responsible by reason of mental defect. The plea was accepted. She was committed to a state psychiatric hospital in Orange County.

Other details

Halley William Sr. was described by neighbors as a maintenance worker at the Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla.

The three older children attended Edison Elementary School. Nellie Senquez last saw Amaya Tuesday morning and said: "everything appeared to be normal." Fabian Marquez said Amaya had been hospitalized recently for "depression and nervousness" and said: "She used to love the kids so much she never hit them." Iisha Brooks, a fourth-grader at Edison, said about Halley William Jr.: "He liked to draw things" and "He drew a house with an alarm on it." Iisha said Halley William Jr. "never spoke of any troubles at home." Isabel Perez, described as a longtime family friend, said: "I cannot believe she would kill her children with her own hands," and "How could this be? How could we have been such friends and I never knew?" Another neighbor, Robert Concepcion, said softly: "They seemed like every other family. What went wrong?"

The police did not identify the person who told them about the bodies.

Maria Isabella Amaya was identified as the mother charged in fatal stabbings of four children.