Cops: Delaware woman drowns infant, 5-year-old

A 30-year-old Wilmington woman has been charged with drowning her infant son and the baby's 5-year-old half-brother, officials said Tuesday.

Police summoned to the woman's apartment Monday morning found the children dead in the tub and a strong smell of gas in the air, prompting a temporary evacuation of the building.

They took Kula Pelima into custody and after questioning charged her with two counts of first degree murder, Chief of Police Robert Tracy said at a news conference, adding she confessed.

The boys were identified as Solomen Eppell, 4 months old, and Alex Eppell, 5.

Tracy said police notified the boy's father, Victor Eppell, at  detention center in York, Pa., where he has been held after being taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Oct. 6.

Tracy said Pelima, a Liberian native, had called police at 3:45 a.m. Monday, expressing concern about her immigration status. An officer who went to the address to reassure the woman she was not in trouble saw the 5-year-old and reported seeing nothing wrong or alarming.

When police were called again to the apartment around 8:30 a.m., the children were dead.

Police have not been able to locate the 5-year-old boy's biological mother, the chief said.

In a tragically similar case, an Atlanta woman was arrested Friday after her two toddlers were found dead in their home.

Investigators allege that Lamora Williams, 24, put her sons, ages 1 and 2, in the oven and turned it on, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.