PHOENIX — Pearla Rebolledo remembers the 911 call made one year ago on Wednesday.
“Please hurry! Please hurry! They're all dead. All three babies are dead!"
Officers came on a sickening scene as three children, all under the age of four, were found dead.
According to police, the children's mother, Rachel Henry admitted to smothering each child, singing nursery rhymes to two of them as she killed them.
“It’s a nightmare, it’s horrible it’s a nightmare," Rebolledo said. “I thought they were asleep and nice. They weren't and they were dead. That’s what I remember most.”
It's been exactly one year since the killings.
According to court documents, Henry allegedly began smothering each child, starting with the 1-year-old girl, when their aunt went to pick the children's father up from work around 2 p.m. on Jan. 20, 2020.
While Henry was allegedly smothering the first child, she fought and the 3-year-old boy yelled, "No," at her in an effort to end it.
The boy then began punching Henry.
She would then allegedly proceed to kill the next two children, smothering them while singing nursery rhymes to them.
A year later, Pearla Rebolledo said the moments she realized the children were dead has been burned into her memory.
“All three of them were gone,” Rebolledo said.
"I can't get that image out of my head. The way I found her," Pedro Rios, the children's father, said last February.
The Rios, found them on the couch. Police say the kids were placed there by Henry as if they were sleeping.
“I only noticed the baby. I didn't even notice the other two kids," Rios said.
“Their dad is destroyed over this, he’s just lost.” Rebolledo said.
Since his children’s death, Pedro has moved to Oklahoma, where most of his family is from, to try and deal with the grief. Rebolledo has stayed behind, living in the same home where the murders took place.
“I can see them there," Rebolledo said.
Arizona will seek the death penalty for Rachel Henry, who police said methodically killed three children on that tragic day. Henry has pled not guilty.
Last year, Rebolledo set up a video visit with Henry. On the call, she confronted Henry about the killings.
"That is the point I kept telling you. I felt like I was losing my mind," Henry said. "I didn’t know what was going on, I tried to talk to someone they said I was stupid or I was scared, and I didn’t know what I was talking about."
However, when pressed more by Rebolledo, Henry gave another reason for her actions.
“Do you know how bad I wanted to go to the store? I wanted to go outside. I wanted to do this and I wanted to do that. You said I couldn’t be seen by Francisco. You said I couldn’t go to the store because of the babies and this and that. I was trapped in the house and I felt like I was going crazy,” Henry said.
Henry's trial is set to begin in 2022.
