Edyan Farah, 28, locks her five children in a closet - two die

An Indiana woman of Somali-origin allegedly locked her five children in a closet for 10 hours and did not call for help when she found two of them dead, officials said today.

Paramedics and police were called to the Indianapolis apartment after the woman's uncle saw one of the dead children lying on a couch.

Edyan Farah, 28, told police she was "not in her right mind," a police report said.
She allegedly explained that she had locked her children -- a seven-year-old girl, five-year-old twin girls, a three-year-old boy and an 11-month-old baby -- in the closet of an upstairs bedroom at about 6:00 am Monday.

The crowded closet was filled with clothing and other items and is about two feet wide (60 centimetres) and six feet (1.8 meters) long.She then "placed a large bed in front of the door so that the children could not get out" and went downstairs to talk to her neighbour, the report said.

Farah allegedly told detectives that she returned to the apartment at about 4:20 pm and found her five-year-old daughter Zuhur and three-year-old Zakariya "were stiff and unresponsive."

She allegedly carried the girls downstairs and they lay there for more than four hours until her neighbours -- disturbed by her behaviour and refusal to let them inside -- called her uncle.

"This case is extremely disturbing and very, very, sad," said Indianapolis police Sergeant Linda Jackson. The cause of death was not immediately known.The surviving children were examined at hospital and are currently under the care of protective services, Jackson told AFP."Initial reports from the scene indicated that they were very thin and perhaps were malnourished," she said.

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Im not sure now if it was four or five children. NG reporting four children the article says five children.
In any case this is horrible.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:34 PM on 22nd September 2010
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Edyan Farah, 28, allegedly put all five of her children - aged one through seven - into the small closet and pushed a bed in front of the door so they could not get out

Two children have died after their mother apparently locked them in a closet with their three siblings for more than ten hours.

Edyan Farah, 28, allegedly put all five of her children - aged one through to seven - into the small closet and pushed a bed in front of the door so they could not get out.

The closet was 6ft long and about 18in deep.

Farah left for ten and a half hours to visit a friend on Sunday. When she came back to her home in Indianaopolis, she opened the closet to find her five-year-old daughter Zuhur and three-year-old son Zakariya 'stiff and unresponsive'.

She told officers she carried them downstairs but did not call for help or try to revive them.

Four hours later, a family friend grew concerned when Farah - who was acting strangely - refused to let anyone in the apartment.

The friend then called Farah's uncle to the apartment complex. When he arrived and looked through the door of the apartment, he saw what appeared to be a dead child on the couch.

When he tried to call 911, Farah grabbed his phone from his hands and threw it away.

He then held her down as the family friend retrieved the phone and called for help.

Now Farah has been charged with neglect resulting in her children's deaths.

She told police she was 'not in her right mind' at the time of the incident.

An autopsy has not indicated how the two children died.

Police and neighbours said the children appeared malnourished - but the coroner said that while the two children were thin, she did not consider them emaciated.

Hussein Adam, a cousin of the children's father, said Monday that the family had emigrated from Somalia about a decade ago. He said Farah's husband had returned there several weeks ago to visit his parents, but was en route back to the U.S.

Lt. Jeff Duhamell said the three surviving children - a seven-year-old girl and boys ages five and one - are now in foster care. 'It's just a very, very sad case,' he said.

'It's one of the worst ones I've seen - to be placed in a closet approximately 18in by 6ft and a bed pushed up against it for a minimum of ten hours. We think possibly a lot longer and probably not for the first time.'

Farah is due to appear in court today.

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Sick woman. I am not sure how we can stop crap like this from happening. Neighbors and family should not turn a blind eye to neglect and abuse of children. No way was this the first time she blocked them in to that closet. Those poor kids. I hope the foster homes they are in are good ones.

What really gets me is that the 7 year old told authorities this was not the first time they had been locked in a closet. Also, can you imagine the children that lived literally witnessing their siblings gasping for air and dying? This woman should get the DP!

lindamarie wrote:Those poor kids. I hope the foster homes they are in are good ones.

I agree, Lindamarie. This is so sad...

Wrapitup wrote:This woman should get the DP!

I agree, Wrap! What she did was cruel & inhumane!!

By RICK CALLAHAN, Associated Press Writer
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INDIANAPOLIS — A woman charged in the deaths of two of her children allegedly locked them and three siblings inside a small closet and left to visit a friend, returning about 10 hours later to find the boy and girl dead inside.

An Indianapolis police report released Tuesday said Edyan Farah, 28, told officers she “was not in her right mind” when she allegedly put her five children in an upstairs closet about 6 a.m. Sunday and placed a large bed in front of the door so they couldn’t get out.

Police said the closet was about 6 feet long and 18 inches deep.

Farah, an immigrant from Somalia, found her 5-year-old daughter, Zuhur, and 3-year-old son, Zakariya, “stiff and unresponsive” when she returned home about 10 1/2 hours later and opened the closet, the report said. She told officers she then carried them downstairs, but did not call 911 or try to revive them, according to the report.

Lt. Jeff Duhamell said the three surviving children — a 7-year-old girl and boys ages 5 and 1 — are now in foster care.

“It’s just a very, very sad case,” he said. “It’s one of the worst ones I’ve seen — to be placed in closet approximately 18 inches by 6 feet and a bed pushed up against it for a minimum of 10 hours. We think possibly a lot longer and probably not for the first time.”

On Monday, Farah was charged with two preliminary counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death. She remained jailed Tuesday at the Marion County Jail on a $200,000 bond. Susan Decker, a spokeswoman for the county prosecutor’s office, said Farah will appear in court Wednesday to be advised of her rights but that prosecutors have requested 72 more hours to prepare formal charges.

Decker said she did not know whether Farah had an attorney. She said the prosecutor’s office had no comment on the case, adding that “everything is still under investigation at this point.”

An autopsy performed Monday did not show how the boy and girl died and toxicology results that could reveal that would take three to four weeks, said chief deputy coroner Alfarena Ballew. She said coroner’s office investigators returned to the apartment Tuesday to re-examine the scene.

Police and neighbors said the siblings appeared malnourished, but Ballew said that while the two children’s bodies were thin, she did not consider them to be emaciated or malnourished.

The police report said Farah told detectives that after locking the children in the closet she left the apartment to first speak to a neighbor, then went with that woman to her apartment in the same complex.

Authorities were called to the two-story apartment at Manchester Village Apartments about four hours after Farah said she returned and found the two bodies.

The report said a family friend had grown concerned that Farah was “acting strangely” and would not allow anyone into the apartment for hours after she returned.

The report said the wife of that friend — the woman Farah had visited with — called Farah’s uncle to the complex and that when the uncle looked into an open door in the apartment he saw what appeared to be a dead child on a couch.

When that man tried to call 911, Farah allegedly grabbed his phone and threw it. He retrieved the phone and held Farah while the family friend called 911, the report said.

When medics arrived, the family friend directed them into the apartment’s front living room and pointed to a child laying on the couch and another on the floor, the report said. The medics found both “in full rigor mortis” and neither had a pulse, it said.

Hussein Adam, a cousin of the children’s father, said Monday that the family had emigrated from Somalia about a decade ago. He said Farah’s husband had returned there several weeks ago to visit his parents, but was en route back to the U.S.

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I wonder if she had left any food or water for them? It must have been hard for them to breathe in such a confined space. Poor kids! I think it might be a good idea to confine her to a closet for 10 hours & see how she fares!

I heard on HLN she left no food, no water, no nothing. I agree with you, Rainbow!!!!

A psychological exam was ordered this week for an Indianapolis woman charged in the deaths of two young children authorities said were left barricaded for hours in a dark, hot closet.

Defense attorney Mark King said he asked Marion Superior Court Judge Lisa Borges to order the exam and grant a physical checkup because Ebyan Farah wasn't eating properly before the Sept. 19 deaths of her 4-year-old daughter, Zuhur Farah Hassan, and 3-year-old son, Zakariya Farah Hassan.

"Based on the fact she's Muslim and what the jail normally feeds, I don't believe she's eating properly while in the jail. I'm very concerned that her chemical imbalances may be off, which will hurt ability to understand what's happening around her," King said.

Farah, 28, a Somali immigrant, hung her head and looked at the floor for a second court appearance in a row, lifting her head only to say yes when the judge asked her if she understood an order not to contact her three surviving children.

"Being away from them is killing her, honestly — emotionally and physically," King told reporters after the hearing.

Farah is charged with eight counts of neglect and confinement.

An Indianapolis police report has said Farah told officers she "was not in her right mind" when she allegedly used a bed to barricade four of her five children in a closet measuring 6 feet by 1 1/2 feet for about 10 hours while she visited a friend.

Relatives have said Farah and her husband, Bursan Hassan, emigrated from Somalia about a decade ago, and he returned to the African nation several weeks ago to visit his parents. He was in court Monday but did not speak to reporters.

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BJ in OR wrote:"Being away from them is killing her, honestly — emotionally and physically," King told reporters after the hearing.

Unfortunately, I don't feel a whole lot of sympathy for her! It was her self-centered decision to lock her children in a closet for so long, which in turn led to the deaths of two of them. I hope she is starting to realize what her poor kids went through!

Rainbow, you beat me to it. I have no sympathy for her. My sympathy is for her lost children and her children that had to sit in that closet with nothing and watch their siblings die a slow death.

Dec 14, 2012

A mother will spend 40 years in prison after locking five of her children in a closet, resulting in the death of two of them.

Edyan Farah was sentenced Friday to 60 years for two felony counts of child neglect. Of those, 40 years will be served in prison, 10 will be served as home detention and 10 will be served as probation.

Several of Farah’s charges were dropped as a result of her pleading guilty to two charges of neglect.

Police said Farah put her five kids in a bedroom closet measuring 6 feet by 2 feet, then pushed a bed up against the door so they could not get out. She then went to a friend’s house. More than 10 hours later, she returned to find her 3-year-old and 5-year-old not breathing. Investigators said all the children were severely malnourished.

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