Mother is accused of killing 2 children

Boston police arrested Angela Vasquez yesterday as she lay in a hospital bed and charged her with murdering her two children, three days after they were found dead in their Roslindale home.

Friends and relatives have said that Vasquez, 31, seemed depressed, even lost, in the days before Sunday, when her children -- Yasmine Burgos, 13, and Dennis Burgos Jr., 10 -- were found dead in the Maynard Street duplex.

Outside his apartment in Mission Hill last night, their father, Dennis Burgos Sr., said the children "were inseparable,"

"They always took care of each other," he said. ". . . Yasmine took care of Junior. Junior took care of Yasmine."

He declined to speak about the deaths or charges facing Vasquez, saying, "No matter what goes wrong in life, how frustrated you get, we always think about doing something bad, but you have to think about it first."

Many relatives and friends were shocked yesterday to learn police had decided to arrest Vasquez.

"I would like to ask her why she did it," her cousin, Nilda Lopez said in an interview at her home in Hyde Park. "I would like to know what is the purpose. I'm just stunned."

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley declined to describe a motive or say whether Vasquez made statements to investigators, who interviewed her Tuesday at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where she is recovering from what are believed to be self-inflicted stab wounds.

"What we can say is that the evidence we've been able to gather up to this point in this investigation conclusively establishes that Ms. Vasquez is the individual responsible for the intentional killing of her two children," Conley said.

Police found Dennis Burgos lying in bed next to his mother, who had multi ple stab wounds, and his sister in another bedroom, said two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the investigation.

The condition of their bodies showed that they had been dead for some time, the officials said. Neighbors said they last saw the children alive on Friday.

Their father identified at least one of the bodies yesterday, according to Conley's office.

At Burgos's apartment yesterday, well-wishers left yellow tulips, a big purple teddy bear, and candles on the front step.

Standing near those tokens last night, he said Yasmine told him she wanted to be a veterinarian, and his son "was only ten, but he was like a grown-up kid.

"Yasmine was always making sure I was OK. You always find pictures of them together smiling, hugging each other. They were my only two kids, and I always told them they had each other."

Friends and family came to express condolences to Burgos.

"I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sympathies to Dennis and Yasmine's father and other relatives, to whom we have assigned a victim's advocate," Conley said in an interview. "We promise to speak for these two innocent children, as we seek justice on their behalf."

A special grand jury that investigates homicides and shootings convened Monday and continues to probe the slayings, Conley said.

The medical examiner is trying to determine how the children died, he said. Police have said it does not appear the children were stabbed, but toxicology tests will be done to help investigators determine the cause of the children's death.

Vasquez is expected to be arraigned today, either in her bed at Brigham and Women's Hospital or in West Roxbury District Court, Conley said. "Should she be discharged from the hospital, she will be released into police custody," said his spokesman, Jake Wark.

Vasquez, who lived on Maynard Street for about four years, had been distressed over a recent break-up with an unidentified boyfriend and was increasingly worried about how she would support her children, friends and relatives have said.

She tried to cheer herself up. In June, she took her children to Disney World in Florida. "She wanted them to see the rest, because they didn't finish it all when they went last year," Lopez said.

But two weeks ago, she told a friend she was so overwhelmed by her problems that she had tried to end her life. Last Wednesday, she quit her job at Children's Hospital Boston after a supervisor gave her a four-page warning letter detailing her problems at work, a friend and neighbor told the Globe.

Lula Fisher, a friend and former neighbor of Vasquez, said she has been visiting the Maynard Street home daily and has left flowers on a growing memorial.

Fisher said she was trying to understand why Vasquez would take such drastic steps, saying, "I guess she had too much pressure on her."

But another friend, Monica Perez, who spoke with police Sunday, said that night that she could believe the allegations. "She wasn't going to go out of this world without her kids," she said.

Globe correspondent Javier Hernandez contributed to this story. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.