PHOENIX — Phoenix police have released body camera footage showing the initial response to a horrific triple murder in January of 2020. Three children under the age of four were killed, and their mother, Rachel Henry, has been accused of smothering them to death.
The hours of video from the perspective of multiple different responding officers shows them arriving to the Phoenix home the night of January 20, 2020.
They had received a distressing 911 call from the children's great aunt, Pearla Rebolledo.
“Please hurry! Please hurry! They're all dead. All three babies are dead!"
First responders find the three young children deceased: Zane, Mireya, and Catalaya.
The video shows Henry screaming and crying outside of the home.
“They were sick. And we were trying to get them an appointment and I told his dad so many times please take them to the doctor," Henry said.
Henry initially told police her children had been sick so she had given them ibuprofen and put them down for a nap. That was around 2 p.m.
Later that night, she and Rebolledo went to pick up pizza while the children's father, Pedro Rios, stayed home with the kids. He tried waking them up but was unsuccessful. Henry and Rebolledo came home to Rios franticly looking for help.
“They fell asleep watching a movie and their dad came home and he was laying on the couch and I told him to watch them," Henry said.
Police separated Henry from Rebolledo and Rios. Henry began telling an officer she had previously struggled with a marijuana and meth addiction. She said she wanted a better life.
“I just am asking the Lord for forgiveness so I can move on and start over and start fresh and forgive myself," Henry said.
Meanwhile, Rebolledo raised concerns to police about Henry's behavior.
"The girl is weird," Rebolledo said. "I'm afraid we're gonna come home one day and find her drowning the kids in the tub or something."
Henry was taken to a police station as officials continued to comb through the traumatic scene.
Video of her formal interview was not released but not long after, she was put into handcuffs and taken into custody.
Records show her initial story was a far cry from the heinous truth and she confessed to smothering her children.
The details of the killings are gruesome.
While Henry was allegedly smothering the first child, the 1-year-old girl was kicking and the 3-year-old boy yelled "no" at her in an effort to get her to stop.
The boy then began punching Henry but to no avail.
Henry then allegedly chased the 3-year-old boy around the room until the aunt and father returned to the house around 3 p.m.
Police said Henry later confessed to smothering Miraya in the other room.
She then allegedly proceed to kill the next two children, smothering them while singing nursery rhymes.
She was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against her.
Henry has pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial in March of 2025.
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