TEXAS - A pregnant Gilberta Estrada-Vega arrived at the SafeHaven women's shelter last summer with no home, a bruised body and three young children.

Despite her hard luck, the staff at the Fort Worth shelter figured the 25-year-old would be one of their success stories. Ms. Estrada-Vega convinced the staff she was ready to split permanently with the man she accused in court filings of abuse and was determined to keep herself and her children safe.

JUAN GARCIA/DMN

From his porch in Weatherford, Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez declined to talk about the hanging deaths of his ex-girlfriend, Gilberta Estrada-Vega, and two of their daughters.

They said Ms. Estrada-Vega was fiercely protective of her three little girls and seemed serious about fixing all that was wrong in her life.

"She was the model client," said Mary Lee Hafley, CEO of SafeHaven of Tarrant County. "She was cooperative and very determined to make some significant changes in her life."

Eight months after she gave birth to her fourth daughter and left the shelter for a Parker County mobile home park, Ms. Estrada-Vega and her children were found hanging by their necks in a closet.

Only the "miracle" baby – 8-month-old Evelyn Frayre – survived.

The Tarrant County medical examiner's office ruled the deaths a murder-suicide after completing autopsies Wednesday. The children have been identified as Maria-Teresa Estrada-Vega, 5; Yaneth Frayre, 3; and Magaly Frayre, 21 months.

A news release from the medical examiner said Ms. Estrada-Vega "may have been suffering from depression, although there is no documented history of threatened or attempted suicide." No antidepressant medicine or illegal drugs were found in the home, and there was no suicide note.

Ms. Hafley said the shelter's staff saw no signs of postpartum psychosis or other mental instability that sometimes leads women to kill their children. Ms. Estrada-Vega appeared to have turned her life around.

The immigrant from Tamaulipas, Mexico, got a job at a Wendy's restaurant in Parker County under a pending visa – known as a U visa – given to victims of domestic violence, said Carl Rusnok, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

According to court documents, Ms. Estrada-Vega was making about $900 per month.

An attorney for SafeHaven filed a lawsuit last year on behalf of Ms. Estrada-Vega so she could receive child support, and the state attorney general's office joined in that case to ensure the payments were made. According to court records, Gregorio Frayre Rodriguez was the father of the three youngest children and was ordered last fall to pay $300 per month.

One payment was received this month, shortly after the attorney general's office intervened, but it wasn't clear whether there were any payments before then.

Ms. Estrada-Vega also obtained a protective order against Mr. Rodriguez, whom she accused of kicking her, attempting to strangle her and threatening to kill her with a knife.

He has pending misdemeanor cases of assault and interfering with an emergency call from an alleged attack against Ms. Estrada-Vega last summer. Ms. Estrada-Vega said in court records said that he kicked her and then pulled the phone cord out of the wall when she tried to call 911.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Rodriguez sat teary-eyed on a couch on his front porch in Weatherford. A toy tractor and child's truck lay in the yard.

He refused to talk about what might have led the mother of his children to hang them and then herself. "I don't know anything," he said before walking away.

He referred all questions to his attorney, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The accusations of abuse and criminal charges against the father have muddied the future of baby Evelyn.

The girl was released from the hospital Wednesday and into the custody of Child Protective Services, said Marissa Gonzales, spokeswoman for the state agency. CPS will temporarily care for the girl while conducting a search for a suitable family member, she said.

A hearing is set for June 12 in the 324th District Court in Fort Worth.

Nancy Cychol, president of Cook Children's Medical Center, said several relatives, including the baby's father, had visited the hospital. The father, she said, was turned away because of a protective order that Ms. Estrada-Vega had sought against him.

Hospital officials had steeled themselves to treat a critically injured child when they heard that Evelyn was being brought in Tuesday. Instead, the baby arrived hungry and scared, with minor neck wounds.

"She was alert. She was crying vigorously. She did have some mild redness at the skin of her neck," said Kimberly Aaron, director of Cook's emergency department.

Staff attributed the girl's survival to her weight, only 20 pounds, and the soft tissue around her neck. She was hanged by the neck with the sleeve of a sweater.

"She is a miracle. She survived," Dr. Aaron said. "Sometimes miracles occur."

Evelyn is named after Ms. Estrada-Vega's caseworker at the shelter, Evelyn Haro.

Ms. Hafley said some employees at SafeHaven were suspicious about reports that Ms. Estrada-Vega killed herself and the girls.

"Of the hundreds of women we see each year, she would have been least likely to be so fragile to take this course of action," Ms. Hafley said.

Ms. Hafley said the shelter does not provide psychiatric care, and she wasn't aware of any mental health care that Ms. Estrada-Vega might have sought elsewhere. Beyond the possible bout of depression recently, little is known about Ms. Estrada-Vega's mental state.

Cheryl Meyer, an author and psychologist at Wright State University in Ohio who has studied mothers who kill their children, said such women often lack support, are raising children alone, or are uneducated with few parenting or mental health resources. Some have trouble acclimating to their surroundings and don't know that they should ask for help.

Dr. Meyer estimates that a mother kills a child about once every three days in the U.S.

Killing the children by hanging them is unusual, Dr. Meyer said, but the other circumstances of Ms. Estrada-Vega's life are common in such deaths.

"It's an array of factors, and if any one of them had been different, the outcome could have been very different," she said.

Dr. Meyer said all mothers need support, but there's a culture in the U.S. of independence and of doing everything on your own, including raising children.

"A person who is overwhelmed or needs the help the most is the least likely to ask for it," she said.

Dallas psychologist Ann Dunnewold, an author and nationally recognized expert in women's health issues and postpartum depression, said single mothers, in particular, need support because they're often "running on empty."

"We still expect mothers to give every ounce of themselves to their children," she said.

Dr. Dunnewold said it's difficult for people to comprehend such deaths. And examining why they occur is even more difficult.

"There's something missing in our society that these kinds of things keep happening," she said.

While speculation is rampant about why, those closest to Ms. Estrada-Vega are trying to figure out what's next.

The family is working with the Mexican Consulate on services and hopes to bring relatives to Texas for the funeral.

Family friend Filly Echeverria said all four girls will be dressed in white, and guests will be asked to wear white as well. The color, she said, symbolizes the girls' purity and innocence.

Before the killings, Ms. Echeverria had been helping her friend prepare for the girls' Catholic baptism. Their dresses had been stored in the closet where the girls died.

On Wednesday, strangers as well as friends stopped by the home of Ms. Estrada-Vega's sister with food and money, as well as support.

One group of teenagers delivered about $700 collected from motorists at various locations. They held up two signs – one in Spanish and one in English.

"Show your support by donating to the Estrada family," read one of the signs.

"We don't know them. We don't know the family. We just know the sister," said Marie Santibañez, who works at Wendy's with Alejandra Estrada.

Ms. Santibañez said she could sympathize with the family.

"It is four bodies that need to be buried," she said. "I know it is going to get difficult."

Staff writers Dianne Solís and Laurie Fox contributed to this report.

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