So sad: Single mum, 39, dies at home alone with 3-month old twins

April 5, 2013 |

April 5, 2013

Thanks to a phone call from a concerned relative, 3-month-old twin girls were rescued by authorities on Wednesday when their 39-year-old mother, Alice Jackson, died presumably of natural causes in her Plainfield, NJ apartment. The twins were dehydrated, but are currently listed in stable condition at a local hospital. The relative who called police was concerned about the well-being of Jackson after not hearing from her for days.

The discovery was made just a week after a four-year-old boy was found lying next to his mother who had been deceased for five days in their New Jersey apartment. The young boy was too small to open the refrigerator on his own and was found looking hungry and disheveled. The boy didn’t first understand that his mother had passed away because officers say there were signs that he tried resuscitating her by rubbing lotion all over her body. According to DailyMail.co.uk, the boy’s hand-prints in lotion could be seen on the woman’s body where he had tried to revive her, he told officers he hoped it would ‘heal her’.

According to Union Police Director Daniel Zieser, the young boy communicated what happened over the past five days and it was heartbreaking to hear, “He made a statement to the officer that ‘There’s plenty of food in the refrigerator, but I couldn’t open the door. So that’s kind of sad that nobody checked on him, no family members. It’s sad, very sad,” Zieser told reporters. The child was discovered after maintenance men entered the apartment to investigate a report by neighbors of a foul smell. When workers arrived the door was cracked open but held with a chain that was too high for the boy to reach.

Police do not think foul play is to be blamed for his mother’s death. They are set to perform an autopsy to determine the cause and plan to investigate from that point. The boy was taken to a hospital to be treated for dehydration and malnutrition. He is now said to be in good condition.

So sad: Single mum, 39, dies at home alone with 3-month old twins