It was Aug. 28, 2014, when the gruesome and disturbing scene hidden inside a Blackstone home was discovered. As the investigation continued, detectives discovered much worse, the death of three babies.

Authorities said a 10-year-old boy living at 23 St. Paul St. in Blackstone told a neighbor there were two severely neglected children inside.

Investigators found a “house of horrors” inside the single-family home.

A dead baby was eventually found stuffed inside a backpack, placenta and umbilical cord still attached, inside a bedroom closet. The skeleton of another baby was also found.

In total, three dead babies were discovered, authorities said.

Erika Murray, the mother charged in the deaths of two of the three babies, will be in Worcester Superior Court Tuesday as her trial begins. She is facing two counts of second-degree murder and other charges in the case.

A house where the skeletal remains of three children were found last month is torn down by order of the town's Board of Health Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 in Blackstone, Mass. Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment.

The first call to the “House of Horrors” home in Blackstone

A 10-year-old boy living in the home went to a neighbor and reported two children were being neglected in August 2014. The boy asked the neighbor how to get a baby to stop crying.

The two children, a 3-year-old girl and an infant girl were being kept in bedrooms. A 13-year-old child also lived there, authorities said.

The neighbor called the police. Officers arrived on the scene for the well-being check when they learned children were crying inside the house.

"Responding officers found the interior of the home to be in a state of squalor, with garbage, debris and dirty diapers stacked over a foot high in places and an out of control rodent and pest infestation," police said in a press release issued at the time.

The state Department of Children and Families were called. All four children were removed from the home.

A house where the skeletal remains of three children were found last month is torn down by order of the town's Board of Health Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 in Blackstone, Mass. Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment.

Erika Murray is initially charged with two counts of child endangerment then more charges were filed

Murray was first arraigned in district court in September 2014 on charges of child endangerment. Her boyfriend also living in the home, Ramon Rivera, who also goes by Raymond, was arraigned on multiple drug charges.

Two days after her first arraignment, Murray is then charged with fetal death concealment out of wedlock after authorities discovered the remains of the three babies.

Murray was also charged with two counts of permitting substantial injury to a child, witness intimidation and animal cruelty.

Photos released by the town of Blackstone showing the squalid conditions of a St. Paul Street home where three dead infants were found along with two severely neglected children and two other children living with Erika Murray.

The search of the home and the horrifying discoveries

When police first arrived, in August 2014, they discovered the 3-year-old girl looked like she had been “dipped in feces.” The female infant was severely malnourished, investigators said.

The next month, investigators returned to the home wearing Hazmat suits because of the deplorable conditions inside. A massive insect infestation and mounds of used diapers and feces were found inside the home, authorities said.

It was during that search investigators said they found the remains of an infant, placenta still attached, stuffed in a backpack in a closet in the “trash-strewn and vermin-infested” home, according to prosecutors. A subsequent search found skeletal remains of two more babies in the home.

Photos released by the town of Blackstone showing the squalid conditions of a St. Paul Street home where three dead infants were found along with two severely neglected children and two other children living with Erika Murray.

Prosecutors would later say the skeletal remains of one baby had a full head of hair. The skeletons of two of the infants were still clothed in diapers and onesies.

A dead dog was also discovered. Photos showed the squalor inside the Blackstone home. Garbage was piled up inside.

A house where the skeletal remains of three children were found last month is torn down by order of the town's Board of Health Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 in Blackstone, Mass. Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment.

Prosecutor says two children had been “profoundly neglected”

During an October 2014 hearing, a prosecutor described the living conditions for the 3-year-old girl and infant girl. The two girls were covered in their own feces.

“The two had been profoundly neglected,” a prosecutor said. “They had never been taken outside of the house. The 3-year-old was not capable of walking, could not feed herself and was developmentally delayed to a huge extent.”

Both children were severely malnourished, authorities said.

A house where the skeletal remains of three children were found last month is torn down by order of the town's Board of Health Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 in Blackstone, Mass. Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment.

Blackstone officials say the house needs to be demolished

In late September 2014, the Blackstone Board of Health determined the house will remain a health and public safety nuisance if it remains in place.

An order is sent to Kristina Rivera to demolish the home.

It was the next month, on Oct. 21, 2014, that the two-story, single-family house was destroyed.

The debris was watered down by Blackstone firefighters during the demolition because of dust and the rancid odor permeating from the site.

A house where the skeletal remains of three children were found last month is torn down by order of the town's Board of Health Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 in Blackstone, Mass. Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment.

Murder charges filed against Murray

In December 2014, the Worcester District Attorney’s Office announced Murray was indicted on nine charges included two counts of murder. She was also indicted on two counts of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, two counts of reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of concealing a fetal death.

The case was then brought to Worcester Superior Court.

A prosecutor said during Murray’s arraignment that two babies were likely alive anywhere from a week to a month.

“The witness told the grand jury there were three babies living in home four to six years ago,” the prosecutor said. “All the evidence before the grand jury has suggested she had five children within seven-year time period.”

The prosecutor added that Murray admitted to police she knew her boyfriend didn’t want children after having the first two and she birthed the children inside the home.

A house where the skeletal remains of three children were found last month is torn down by order of the town's Board of Health Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 in Blackstone, Mass. Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment.

Murray placed the children in a trash-filled bedroom to hide them, a prosecutor said.

Defense attorney Keith Halpern argued at the time that there was still no concrete evidence as to how long and whether the babies were alive or how they died.

Raymond Rivera during December 2014 appearance in Worcester Superior Court.

Boyfriend also indicted on charges in the case

Along with the charges against Murray, the district attorney’s office announced Rivera was indicted on seven charges: two counts of assault and battery on a child causing substantial bodily injury, two counts of reckless endangerment of a child, two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of cultivating marijuana.

“This has been and will continue to be a difficult case,” Worcester District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said at the time. “Our investigators followed the evidence where it led, we presented the case to the Grand Jury and resulted in these indictments.”

Rivera’s case is ongoing in court.

Rivera claimed he didn’t know about the two neglected children. In an interview with reporters, he had said he was largely confined to the basement of the Blackstone home. He only knew about the 3-year-old child, whom Murray told him she was babysitting.

At his superior court arraignment, a prosecutor said Rivera slept in a bedroom just eight feet away from where the children were kept.

“There’s simply no way he could have lived in this house and slept seven to eight feet away without knowing about the existence of these two children," a prosecutor said.

DNA showed Rivera was the father of all seven children.

A house where the skeletal remains of three children were found last month is torn down by order of the town's Board of Health Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2014 in Blackstone, Mass. Erika Murray, the woman who lived in the house with four children and her longtime boyfriend, is being held on $1 million bail on charges including fetal death concealment.

Defense for Murray possibly raising insanity defense at trial

As the case continued in superior court, Murray’s defense lawyer filed motions for funds in order to hire an expert psychiatric witness, the MetroWest Daily News reported. The lawyer also filed a notice that he planned to raise an insanity defense, according to the newspaper.

The defense attorney had also filed a motion in 2016 seeking the murder charges be dismissed. A judge denied the motion.

Murray’s lawyer argued there was no evidence the babies even lived and no evidence that his client took any actions to harm them. The clothing on the babies was most likely Murray grieving the loss of her children, the lawyer said.

A judge disagreed and let the murder charges stand. The judge said in a ruling: "The commonwealth did present to the Grant Jury enough facts and circumstances to support a finding of probable cause that the children were born alive and that the defendant’s lack of care for them and the inhumane conditions she created and maintained for them to live in that house caused their deaths.”