Nurmes woman suspected of trying to kill three children and herself

Police rescue four people from smoke-filled house

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A 41-year-old woman in Nurmes in the east of Finland, is suspected of trying to kill her three children and herself late Tuesday evening.
      Police managed to rescue all four people from a smoke-filled home in the centre of Nurmes.
      All four were given treatment, after which the children, two boys and a girl, aged 5, 8, and 14, were taken into care by child welfare authorities. Police said that they were in good condition, considering what had happened.
     
The single mother, who was powerfully intoxicated, was taken into police custody to sober up. She was arrested at noon Wednesday on suspicion of three attempted homicides.
      Interrogations on Wednesday did not reveal why she had tried to kill her children, and finally herself. She denies having committed any crimes.
      Police in Nurmes were alerted to the scene at 10:16 Tuesday evening. When police got there, four minutes later, the woman's apartment in an old wooden building was full of smoke.
     
Shortly before, nearby residents had ben wondering why the mother of the children had lit a fire so late at night. However, they did not realise what was really happening until the police and ambulances showed up.
      "Police had to break a window to get inside", said Antti Arponen, the head of the police investigation.
      "There had been a fire in the fireplace, and apparently the woman had closed the flues to make it smoke inside."
      There were no outsiders in the house at the time of the events. The children were already asleep. One of them was found with the mother, and the two others were asleep in their rooms. The mother was powerfully intoxicated at the time, and nearly unconscious from the smoke.
     
The woman had sent messages to people that she knew saying that she had planned to take her own life and those of her children. Arponen says that the police learned about the text messages only after they had called to the house.
      The mother had not hurt the children in any other way. Neighbours said that she studied nursing in another community.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Espoo woman confesses to killing her three children (10.8.2007)

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