Arizona Mom Tells Family She Was “Freaking Out” Before Smothering Her 3 Kids

The Phoenix mom who police said confessed to smothering her three children to death one by one last winter allegedly shared in a jailhouse video call with family her reasons for committing the murders.

On Jan. 20, according to a probable cause statement, Rachel Henry, 22, was playing with her 1-year-old daughter, Mireya Henry, when she put her hand over the toddler’s mouth and smothered her. She then sang lullabies while she took the lives of her 3-year-old son, Zane Ezri Henry, and 6-month-old baby girl, Catalaya Kyeana Rios, police claimed in the report.

In video of the six-minute call between Henry and the slain kids’ great aunt that Phoenix’s KPNX obtained from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Henry claimed she was confused when the slayings happened.

“I told you I felt like I was losing my mind, because I didn’t understand why you guys, why everyone was acting the way they were. I didn’t. I was on drugs,” Henry told Pearl Rebolledo. “I was freaking out and I didn’t know what to do. I know I was scared.”

“I felt like I was losing my mind. I didn’t know what was going on. I tried to talk to someone. They said I was stupid or scared and I didn’t know what I was talking about,” she continued, in part.

Henry, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering her three kids, then gave Rebolledo a second excuse for what happened.

“Do you know how bad I wanted to go to the store? I wanted to go outside. I wanted to do this and I wanted to do that,” Henry said, telling the great aunt she felt “trapped in the house” and “was going crazy.”

“I don’t remember doing it…because I don’t, it really wasn’t me," Henry added, according to the recording.

Henry’s trial is set to begin Sept. 30.

Read more: CrimeFeed