PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia woman is accused of killing three of her seven children on Friday, authorities said.
Darlene Nicole Brister, 40, of Rockmart, was charged with two counts of felony malice murder, according to Paulding County Sheriff’s Office online booking records. More charges could be pending, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to a news release from the sheriff’s office, deputies responded to a domestic disturbance and house fire in Rockmart at about 9:19 p.m. EDT.
“It was reported that a female who was inside the home was attempting to stab the occupants and that at the time of the call, the home was on fire and the occupants were inside,” the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators discovered seven children in the home, WSB-TV reported. Two of the children were pronounced dead at the scene and three others were taken to an area hospital. A third child died at the hospital, according to the television station.
The other two did not appear to have injuries, the sheriff’s office said in its news release.
The sheriff’s office did not say how the children were injured or how the two children found dead at the scene had died, The Polk County Standard Journal reported.
The names and ages of the three children who died have not been released, according to WSB.
The news release stated that detectives from the sheriff’s office, Paulding County fire investigators, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and state fire marshal investigators “diligently went to work to make sense of the chaotic scene.”
“Three lives are gone,” a neighbor, Edward Swinger, told WSB.
Brister was booked into the Paulding County Detention Center at 4:54 a.m. Sunday without bail, online records show.
Rockmart is located about 47 miles northwest of Atlanta.