A New Cassel single mother has been charged with murder in the death of her three children, police said.

Leatrice Brewer, 27, has been charged Sunday with one count of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Jewell Ward, 6, Michael Demesyeux, 5, and Innocent Demesyuex, 18 months, the Nassau County Police Department said in a news release, according to the Associated Press.

A woman directed officers to the apartment shortly after they answered a 911 call around 9 a.m. They found the children’s lifeless bodies lying side by side in a bedroom on the second floor of the apartment. The bodies were wet and bloody, Nassau County Police Department Detective Lt. Kevin Smith said, according to the same source. “It was a disturbing scene,” he further added.

The Nassau County Medical Examiner’s Office is investigating the causes of death. Authorities said Brewer was not home but was found later, although they did not say where they arrested her.

According to the neighbors, the woman seemed to be disturbed. “She neglected them. She used to leave them in the house all the time by themselves,” Cornisha Robinson, one of the neighbors told the AP.

On the other hand, Brewer’s brother Robert McCord defended her saying his sister was not crazy. “She’s not ballistic. This is a shock to all of us,” he told AP.

Jewel’s father, Ricky Ward, 28, said that he tried to get custody of her, but that child welfare officials had rebuffed him. “When I tried to get my daughter, Family Court wouldn’t let me. I blame this on Leatrice Brewer and Family Court. She wasn’t stable,” he said. The father of the two boys, named Innocent Demesyeux, also 28, said something similar. “I think she planned it. She should get what she deserves,” he said.

Brewer will be arraigned Monday either at her hospital bedside or in First District Court in Hempstead, Smith said. Doctors will perform mental and physical evaluation to determine whether Brewer is well enough to leave the hospital or whether she should be transferred to a psychiatric facility.