Mother Murders Autistic Son And 9-Year-Old Daughter After Losing Custody To Their Father

A mother involved in a contentious custody case has been charged with killing her 13-year-old autistic son and 9-year-old daughter in California after a judge ordered them returned to their father in Georgia.

Authorities weren’t releasing many details, but one of the special circumstances filed by prosecutors against 42-year-old Marilyn Edge alleges the children were poisoned.

Edge, of Scottsdale, Ariz., is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. She was charged Monday with two counts of murder with special circumstances in the deaths of her daughter Faith and son Jaelen.

Edge lost custody of them on Wednesday in a Georgia case then texted her ex-husband, Mark Edge, two days later that she would bring the children back on Sunday, his attorney Marian Weeks said. The children were found Saturday in a Santa Ana hotel room.

Mark Edge was informed about the death of the children early Sunday by Atlanta police and was taken to a hospital for duress.

Marilyn Edge could be eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

She was driving a car that crashed Saturday into an electrical box outside a shopping complex in Costa Mesa. She refused to get out of the car and tried to choke herself with an electrical cord as rescuers attempted to free her, Santa Ana police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said.