No drugs were found in the bodies of a mother and the three daughters she hanged in her trailer home before killing herself, the medical examiner said Wednesday.
After the killings May 29, the medical examiner said the children may have been drugged or asleep while their mother tied nooses around their necks and hanged them in a closet. The results changed that conclusion.
“It seems like the only explanation is that they were sleeping,” said Linda Anderson, a spokeswoman in the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The toxicology report by Dr. Nizam Peerwani said tests found no alcohol, illegal drugs or over-the-counter medicines in the bodies of Gilberta Estrada, 25, or the girls. Authorities previously had said drugs tests were negative on the surviving daughter, an 8-month-old baby.
Peerwani was in meetings Wednesday and was not available to comment.
The baby, Evelyn Frayre, wasn’t seriously injured and is in foster care. Child Protective Services officials are to recommend at a hearing next week which relative can best care for her.
Gilberta Estrada and Maria Teresa Estrada, 5, were buried Monday after a service attended by about 100 mourners. Yaneth Frayre, 3, and Magaly Frayre, 21 months, were buried at the same cemetery Saturday after a private service at the request of their father.
