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Mother, three children found slain in home

MARIANNA - A woman and her three young sons were found slain Thursday in an apartment in this Florida Panhandle city, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said.

The slain children included a 3-week-old baby, according to FDLE. A fourth child, a 2-year-old girl, was not harmed.

Relatives identified the mother as Danielle Baker, 19, and said the four children were hers. FDLE identified the boys as Amad, age 3, Amarion, 1, and Aaron, 3 weeks.

Marianna police Chief Lou Roberts said a neighbor heard knocking coming from Baker's apartment Thursday morning and told an apartment manager.

The manager found Baker's body in a front room. The 2-year-old girl was knocking on the neighbor's wall, Roberts said.

FDLE said the girl, Ashanti Bronson, was placed with relatives.

Authorities did not say where in the apartment the boys' bodies were found, or give causes of death for the victims. State Attorney Steve Meadows said authorities think they were killed Wednesday night.

Baker and her children lived in a three-bedroom apartment in Marianna, about 60 miles west of Tallahassee.

Baker's sister, Shemeka Marlowe, said she spoke with her Wednesday by phone to make plans for a weekend party. She said she tried to call Baker again at 2 a.m. Thursday, but there was no answer. She assumed her sister was sleeping.

"We talk all the time. If she was having a problem (with someone) she would have told me," Marlowe said.

Baker's cousin, Linda Donaldson, remembered her as generous and "always smiling."

"She would always talk about her kids," Donaldson said. "It's bad enough (someone) took her life, but then to turn around and take the babies' lives. ... This is just so strange to me."

Roberts said he thought it was the worst slaying case ever in rural Jackson County.

"We're quite devastated by it. It's very upsetting. These are three small children - helpless," he said.

[Last modified March 18, 2005, 00:42:17]