Mom Murdered Her 3 Young Kids While She Sang Lullabies to Drown Out Their Screams as They Fought for Their Lives By Chris Spargo 55

Rachel Henry and Pedro Rios found themselves living on the streets with their three children shortly after moving to Arizona in late 2019.

The couple and their children — Zane, 3; Maraya, 2; and 7-month-old Catalaya — had been living with Pedro’s aunt Pearl Rebolledo Velazco when they first moved from Nebraska, but she had grown tired of their behavior and, as she later told police, Rachel’s alleged stealing, so she kicked them out of her home.

Pearl stood her ground for five weeks, but she told police that as the winter set in and temperatures began to drop she grew concerned about the couple’s ability to care for their children and if they would be able to survive on the streets, so she decided to give them another chance.

Little did she know the horrors that were to come.

It was Pearl who called to report that “three children under the age of three years old were found deceased” inside her rental home on Jan. 20, 2020, according to a copy of an incident report filed by the Phoenix Police Department and obtained by PEOPLE.

Officers arrived on the scene and soon determined that all three children were dead, at which time their focus turned to the adults who were living at the home.

Pearl was taken to police headquarters that night, along with Rachel and Pedro, and in her interview with detectives she explained that she had been caring for the three deceased children temporarily because she was the aunt of their father.

She also told detectives that Pedro had been living at the home with his girlfriend Rachel, who was the mother of the children.

Pearl then said that “Rachel is a kleptomaniac and steals everything and anything,” according to the report.

She also said multiple times in different interviews with police that she suspected the children died because they had been overmedicated by Rachel.

That is not how the children died, however, as police would soon learn when they spoke with Rachel, who admitted in her first interview that she had murdered her children, according to the report.

Rachel told detectives that the first victim was her daughter — just a few days shy of turning 2 at the time — who she killed while the two played a game she referred to as “dog pile.”

“Rachel explained she was lying on top of [Miraya] and could feel [Miraya’s] breathing was obstructed. Rachel proceeded to impede [Miraya’s] breathing by placing her hand over [Miraya’s] nose and mouth,” the report said.

She would later tell investigators that she knew her daughter was dead when she “stopped kicking,” according to the report.

The mother then took her daughter’s lifeless body and covered it with a blanket, the report said, before “tucking her in as it made her look as if she went to sleep.”

Rachel told police that she then turned her attention to her oldest child, 3-year-old Zane.

In her interview with investigators, Rachel said that Zane had tried to fight her off while she smothered his sister, first by kicking and yelling out “no” and then later by punching his mother.

Rachel said that she was chasing Zane down when his father Pedro returned home from work, according to the report. She let the boy play with his father and have a snack, but then told him it was time to change his underwear.

The report said Rachel then took Zane to the bedroom, wrapped her legs around him and placed her hand over his nose and mouth and held them there until be stopped breathing.

Zane pinched, punched and scratched his mother while she did this, according to the report, so Rachel said that she started singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” so that his father would not hear their son fighting for his life.

Rachel then wrapped her son’s lifeless body in a blanket just like she did for his sister and put him on the couch in front of Pedro, who assumed his son and daughter were both taking naps, per the report.

Rachel then walked over to Pedro and took the youngest of the three, 7-month-old Catalaya, out of his arms and into the bedroom.

She made her daughter a bottle of formula and gave it to her while again singing “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and then “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” according to the report. Then, once the baby had fallen asleep, Rachel said that she smothered her, wrapped her in a blanket and put her body on the same couch as her two siblings.

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Pedro told police that shortly after Rachel put down their third child on the couch, he too decided take a nap, according to the report. Four hours later, he awoke and at the behest of his aunt contacted his great grandmother.

The two were video chatting when Pedro’s great-grandmother asked to see the children, according to his interview with police. He said that he then quietly walked over to the couch and quickly realized none of the children were breathing.

Rachel and Pearl returned home at that moment.

Pearl told police that a panicked Pedro fled outside, and once she understood the situation she directed Rachel to call 911 and get help.

Rachel refused this request, according to Pearl, so she made the call.

Within a few hours, Rachel was being booked into jail. She made her first appearance in front of a judge the following day, during which she complained about her bail being set at $3 million.

“How will I be able to get any money?” she asked the judge. “I don’t have a job or anything.”

She never did post bail and after making a deal with prosecutors, she agreed to plead guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in order to avoid being sentenced to death.

In February 2025, five years after the murders, a judge ruled that she would spend the rest of her natural life in prison.