The family of a Phoenix woman accused of killing her three young sons spoke out in her defense at a news conference on Monday.
Police said Octavia Rogers, 29, stabbed her three sons to death then hid them in a closet before turning the knife on herself.
"She loved her boys, unconditionally. There was nothing she would not do for her boys or for me,” said Tanella McCoy, Rogers’ mother.
McCoy said she holds memories of her three grandsons close to her heart-- like when 8-year-old Jaikare Rahaman learned to read.
"It was the happiest and the saddest moment for me because everywhere we went he told me what this was and that was,” McCoy said.
She said she remembers how helpful 5-year-old Jerimiah Adams was.
"Anything that was too heavy for me, he'd pick it up and do whatever he could for me,” McCoy said.
The youngest, 2-month-old Avery Adams, she was barely getting to know.
"I helped pull him out. I cut his umbilical cord,” McCoy said.
Now, the family is leaning on each other, struggling to comprehend what investigators said happened.
"I don't think it's for us to understand why, and at some point, we'd like to, but if we never understand why, it's tragic, and we just have to accept what has been given to us,” said Sherry Spooney, Rogers’ aunt.
The family said the Octavia Rogers they know is loving, full of life and a good mother. They still don’t know what went wrong.
"That's what we're trying to figure out, too,” Spooney said.
Roger’s next court date has not yet been announced. She's being held on a $1 million cash-only bond.
The family has set up a relief fund at Bank of America. Below is the account information.
Sherry Spooney c/o McCoy/Rogers family
457 034 789 102
