Mother to Be Charged in Sons' Beating Deaths

July 21, 2005, DYER, Ind. — -- The mother of two Indiana boys found beaten to death in their home is expected to be charged with murder today, according to Lake County prosecutors.

Magdalena Lopez, 30, who is reportedly on suicide watch, was taken into custody Tuesday night after she called police to her home, where they found the two boys' bodies. She is expected to be charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of Antonio, 9, and Eric, 2.

Police said Lopez made several calls to friends and relatives after allegedly killing the boys and called her husband Robert at work to tell him what she had done. Robert Lopez's husband came home after police arrived.

An autopsy conducted by the Lake County coroner's office found that Antonio and Eric died of multiple head injuries. Police say they have recovered the weapon but have not revealed what it is was.

"We have what we believe to be the weapon utilized," said Lake County Police Chief Richard Quinn. "It has been recovered."

Investigators say they have not established a clear motive in the slayings. Lake County police said they had received reports of child abuse and domestic violence earlier this year at the home where the Lopezes had lived for at least four years. In March, a school counselor contacted authorities and alleged that Lopez had choked Antonio, but police say the accusations were not substantiated.

Neighbors told ABC News affiliate WLS in Chicago that the boys' mother sometimes complained of being overwhelmed by her sons.

"Maggie was a very good mother to those little babies. I don't know what happened," said neighbor Mary Liakos. "She said that sometimes things got too rough for her. She told me sometimes she would sit in the house in a corner and she just … I don't know. She'd just stare … I don't know. I didn't think that this would happen."

"She had had a miscarriage, and after that the depression set in and really that was it," said Connies Fus, a family friend. " She was on medication, [went] away for a while, and then … and then it led up to this."