TWO children found dead in their rural home were allegedly drugged before being smothered, an autopsy has revealed.
Aussie brothers Max, six, and Sam Johnson, seven, were tragically found dead on May 5 – with their grandma arrested at the scene.
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A post-mortem examination found traces of prescription drugs in the boys’ systems, according to Australian outlet The Daily Telegraph.
Police allege that the children’s grandma, 66-year-old Kathleen Heggs, gave them medication before suffocating them with a pillow.
Heggs then sent an alleged text to authorities saying that the two boys were dead and that she planned to take her life.
When cops arrived at the scene, they found the boys dead in separate rooms and Heggs with self-inflicted injuries.
The siblings were reportedly sleeping when the alleged murders occurred.
Heggs was arrested and taken to the mental health unit at Orange Hospital before being transferred into custody.
On May 21, she was charged with two counts of domestic violence murder.
As the boys’ sole carer, she moved with them over a year ago to a home on the outskirts of Coonabarabran, in rural New South Wales.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the move was prompted after the woman “witnessed an incident involving her family too graphic to publish details of, and became known to police as a victim of crime”.
The boys’ dad told The Daily Telegraph that he and his partner had placed the children in Heggs’ care, as they were both struggling with mental health issues.
The couple had not seen the children for five years before their deaths.
“This is not how we were meant to get them back,” the distraught dad said.
“We are completely broken… but those boys deserve a good send off, and that’s what we are going to give them.”
The children will be buried wearing their karate uniforms, each with a yellow belt they were due to earn the same week their lives were tragically cut short.
A family friend, whose son was the same age as the boys, said he often saw them at school, on the football field and during karate classes.
He said there were no clear signs the family was struggling, describing Heggs as a “beautiful lady” and the boys as “cute little kids, full of energy”.
The local community is said to have been deeply shaken by the news.
The friend added: “This is a tragedy, and it’s affecting so many.
“Petty crime happens and that, but it’s a very safe community, we don’t have problems like the cities.”
Heggs is yet to enter a plea and will face court on July 10.
It comes as investigators found human remains on Friday in the search for Aussie teen Pheobe Bishop, who disappeared three weeks ago.
Pheobe’s two housemates James Wood and Tanika Bromley were charged with murder on Thursday, along with two counts of interfering with a corpse.
