Mother arrested in deaths of 3 kids

August 7, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

EDINBURGH, Scotland

Scottish police on Friday charged the American mother of three children who were found dead in an Edinburgh townhouse with their murder.

Theresa Riggi, 46, was arrested late Friday after police completed autopsies on her children: 8-year-old twins, Augustino and Gianluca, and their 5-year-old sister, Cecilia.

The children were discovered after a gas explosion Wednesday at the town house, but are not thought to have died as a result of the blast.

Riggi is hospitalized in serious but stable condition after apparently falling from an upper story of the house on the same day.

“Due to the medical condition of the accused, it is not at this time known when she will appear in court,” a police spokesman said on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Riggi and her husband, American oil industry executive Pasquale Riggi, 46, of Colorado, were getting divorced and contesting the custody of their children.

Scottish authorities said the couple were due to attend court hearings in the case this week, and on Tuesday a judge raised concerns over the children’s safety when their mother failed to appear for the divorce proceedings.

Police said they are investigating the circumstances of the deaths and have interviewed the children’s father but confirmed he is not a suspect in the case.

They said the autopsies on the children were completed Friday. No details were disclosed, but a report has been submitted to prosecutors, police said.

The mother and children went missing from the family’s home in Aberdeen, a port town about 100 miles north of Edinburgh, on July 21, prompting police to launch a search.