New Orleans mom took her own life after killing her two young children: police

                 

A garbage worker discovered a “horrific scene” on a road east of New Orleans where a woman killed her two young children and then herself, local reports said.

The tragic death of Cylie and Caden McCullum, ages 3 and 5, at the hands of their mother, Michelle McCullum, has relatives reeling in grief for the father left without his family.

“It hurts me to see him going through this,” Gary McCullum told the Times-Picayune of his brother, Gavin. “As far as I could see, she was a good mother, and he was a good father and they were great together. They loved each other. They really did.”

Their deaths followed a 10 hour search by Louisiana authorities by relaying bulletins to neighboring agencies, but never going as far to issue an Amber Alert, the Times-Picayune reported.

McCullum had left her New Orleans home at about 10 p.m. on Wednesday with her children.

The level II alert issued shortly before the bodies were discovered only said Cylie and Caden were missing and with their mother, who was considered armed and dangerous.

BRETT DUKE/THE TIMES-PICAYUNE /LANDOV
A garbage worker found a missing New Orleans woman and her two dead children inside a car east of New Orleans on Thursday morning.

The University of New Orleans student had recently felt suicidal and even homicidal, according to New Orleans Police Department officials.

"The victim had been having some problems and made that known to other members of the family, police Superintendent Michael Harrison told WVUE-TV. "She stated that she was armed with a firearm and had intended to take the lives of her children and her own life.”