A Massachusetts mother who secretly gave birth to five children and hid three of their bodies in closets for years while two surviving daughters lived in filth has been released from prison after serving a sentence that many are calling shockingly lenient. Erica Murray, now 41, was sentenced to 6 to 8 years for assault and battery on a child and animal cruelty, but with credit for time served, she walked free after just over five years behind bars.
The nightmare at 23 Saint Paul Street in Blackstone began to unravel on August 27, 2014, when a neighbor called 911 after discovering two young girls alone in the home. The girls, aged three and five months, were found on filthy mattresses, covered in feces, and had never received medical care. They were so neglected that the older child could not walk, speak, or make eye contact, and the infant had a flat head from being left on her back.
When police arrived, they were overwhelmed by the stench of human waste and decay. Trash was piled several feet high against doors, soiled diapers stacked a foot deep, and rodent infestation was rampant. In one bedroom closet, officers made a gruesome discovery: the skeletal remains of two infants, still dressed in diapers and onesies.
One had been stuffed into a backpack. In another closet, they found the remains of a third baby, still attached to its umbilical cord and placenta, indicating a stillbirth.
Murray had hidden all five of her pregnancies from her partner, Ramon Rivera III, and from her two older children, Kayla and Nick. She gave birth alone on the bathroom floor at night, then kept the babies secret in upstairs bedrooms. She told her older children she was babysitting for a fictional friend named Michelle Ridgeway.
The two surviving girls were never named by their mother; they are known in court documents only as Lisa and Gina.
The home was condemned. Workers in hazmat suits spent days cleaning it out, and the town spent $20,000 on cleanup and $8,500 to demolish the house. The property now sits as a vacant lot, a permanent scar on the neighborhood.
Murray’s mental health became a central issue at trial. Forensic psychologists testified that she suffered from dependent and avoidant personality disorders, cognitive deficiencies, and a profound lack of insight. They described her as unable to cope with problems, resorting to short-sighted solutions like hiding pregnancies from Rivera, who she said was controlling and abusive.
Rivera, seven years her senior, allegedly pressured her to quit her job, isolated her from family, and threatened to abandon her.
Prosecutors initially charged Murray with second-degree murder in the deaths of the two clothed infants, but those charges were dropped after a judge ruled the state failed to prove the babies were born alive and that Murray could have saved them. The stillborn baby was never subject to homicide charges. Assistant District Attorney John Bradley called the case “very hard” and said it “emotionally affected many people throughout Worcester County.”
In 2019, Murray was found guilty of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury and animal cruelty. Judge Janet Kenton Walker sentenced her to 6 to 8 years, with credit for five years already served. “There is nothing about this case that is normal,” the judge said.
“I cannot punish her as some might want me to for the fact that the remains of three babies were found in the closet.”
Rivera took a plea deal and was sentenced to 4. 5 years in prison, with credit for time served since December 2014. He avoided state prison and served his remaining time in county jail.
He was also convicted of reckless endangerment of a child, animal cruelty, and marijuana cultivation.
The two surviving girls, Lisa and Gina, were placed in foster care. According to medical reports, they improved rapidly once removed from the home. Lisa began walking within two weeks, and both girls received immunizations and proper nutrition for the first time.
Their older siblings, Kayla and Nick, now live with their paternal grandparents in a different town, in a house with a basketball hoop and a backyard pool.
The case has sparked outrage in the true crime community, with many comparing Murray’s light sentence to that of other mothers, like Skyler Richardson, who faced life in prison for a stillbirth. “The facts in this case would not allow any judge to convict her of murder if they followed the law,” said Murray’s defense attorney, Keith Halpern.
Acting Blackstone Police Chief Gregory Gilmore, who led the initial investigation, said the community was “shocked to our very core.” He added, “This was a challenging case from the very beginning, but it has been most difficult for the children involved in this horrific situation.”
Murray has since been released from the Western Massachusetts Regional Women’s Corrections Center in Chicopee and is active on Facebook. She is on probation for five years and is prohibited from having contact with children under 10. The two surviving girls remain in foster care, their identities protected.
The house at 23 Saint Paul Street is gone, but the memory of what happened inside those walls will never fade. Neighbors still speak in hushed tones about the day they learned the truth about the woman who waited at the bus stop with her older children, who hosted birthday parties at the local bowling alley, and who posted photos of home-cooked meals on social media while her youngest daughters languished in squalor upstairs.
As one neighbor said, “We had no idea. She seemed like a normal mom. But the smell from that house was something I will never forget.”
