Couple Admit Killing 3 Children, Police Say

A woman and her common-law husband have confessed to killing three children who were found beheaded in a squalid apartment near the Mexican border, police said Wednesday.

Two girls -- a 3-year-old and a 2-month-old -- were found stuffed into a garbage bag; a year-old boy was found on a bed.

Angela Camacho, 23, and John Allen Rubio, 22, were charged early Wednesday with three counts each of capital murder; they could face the death penalty. Camacho is the mother of all three children, and Rubio is the father of two of them, a relative of Rubio’s told the Brownsville Herald.

Police Chief Carlos Garcia said the couple told investigators they committed the slayings.

Garcia said that when police arrived at the apartment, the couple acted as if they were in a trance and did not resist being taken into custody.

“It was like, ‘Yeah, something happened. You might as well take us in now,’ ” Garcia said.

Authorities have not disclosed a motive.

The bodies were discovered Tuesday evening when two acquaintances of the suspects walked into the one-bedroom apartment, found the bloody scene and flagged down a passing police officer.

Garcia said the children apparently were killed Monday night. He didn’t know whether the children were killed in the apartment or somewhere else.

“There’s clothes, trash, all sorts of things thrown all over. Very poor, very trashy ... in the worst conditions that anyone could live in the United States,” he said.

Police identified the children as Julissa Quesada, 3; John Stephan Rubio, 1; and Mary Jane Rubio, 2 months.

Juan Hernandez, 39, said he and other neighbors had called police repeatedly about nighttime fights and beatings at the apartment.

A makeshift memorial of plastic flowers, stuffed animals and candles was placed outside the apartment.

“It tears my heart. I want to cry. How can people do this?” asked Nancy Garcia, 46. “There’s help out there.”