NY mom who killed 3 kids in Hudson is laid to rest

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. (AP) — A white casket and three balloons have arrived at the church where the funeral is taking place for a New York woman who took three of her children to a frigid death in the Hudson River.

The service for 25-year-old LaShanda Armstrong, of Newburgh, is at First Baptist Church in Spring Valley.

Armstrong loaded her four children into a minivan April 12 after an argument with the man who fathered the three youngest. She drove down a boat ramp into the river.

The oldest child, 10-year-old La’Shaun Armstrong, escaped and survived. The youngest, Laianna Pierre, would have turned 1 on Wednesday. Relatives sang “Happy Birthday” to her at the river.

The children will be buried next week in a different cemetery. Their father is not expected at Armstrong’s funeral.