A 20-year-old mother has been arrested on two counts for suspicion of Murder I after her children, a 2-year-old boy and a 10-month old girl were found dead in her vehicle on Monday night, Superior, Arizona authorities are reporting.

According to the reporting, 20-year-old Superior resident and mother of two, Brittany Velasquez was arrested with her bail set at $2 million after she called in to police and reported her children were dead in her car. Investigators found evidence of foul play after combing the scene although the Pinal County Sheriff’s office did not reveal what evidence was found.

They have yet to release the cause of death of the two small children, identified by family members as two-year-old Christopher and 10-month-old Brooklyn. They were found still strapped into their car seats outside of Velasquez’s home in Superior.

The remains of the children have been turned over for autopsy.

Family members have divulged that Velasquez suffered from mental illness since her childhood and has been described as “deranged.” They also report that the suspect had often left her children alone for hours at a time. [xyz-ihs snippet=”adsense-body-ad”]Previous calls reporting Velasquez to police and Child Protective Services came to naught. The family says she was able to fool authorities when they responded to the reports. Velasquez’s brother, Vincent has said, “We tried, we begged CPS to take the kids. We begged the cops. Nothing would happen. Only thing we can do. We can’t kidnap the kids. My grandparents let them stay in the house. Other than that, that’s all we can do, know they are in a home, being fed.”

The Department of Child Sevices in Arizona said that they had investigated two separate reports concerning Velasquez and stated, 

“In both reports, there was no evidence that the mother was abusing or neglecting her children. While there were concerns raised regarding Ms. Velasquez’s previous mental health, no evidence was presented by anyone that indicated mental health issues were impeding Ms. Velasquez’s ability to parent. However, we can only make decisions based on the available evidence and what the law allows.”

Nine months earlier, in June of 2017, Velasquez’s husband and the father of the children, Christopher Sr, died when his newborn daughter was just two weeks old.

Velasquez was arraigned on Tuesday. Whether she submitted a plea is currently unknown.

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