Erika Murray Trial: Doctor Says Children Found Inside Blackstone Home Were Neglected

WORCESTER (CBS) -- On the fifth day of testimony against Erika Murray, a second doctor who examined the Blackstone mother's 3-year-old and 5-month-old children testified that both kids appeared to be victims of profound neglect.

"Her muscles felt like dough and we know that muscles will feel doughie if they're just never used," Dr. Heather Forkey, a pediatrician and the Chief of UMass Memorial Hospital's Division of Child Protection said of the toddler.

Forkey testified that the 3-year-old girl had so much wax in her ears that doctors were unable to see her eardrums. The toddler, whom Forkey examined days after she was recovered from a filthy Blackstone home, also had a hard time keeping her body upright and was unable to eat from a spoon or drink from a cup.

"She didn't present the way a normal 3-year-old would present," Forkey said.

Forkey told the court that the 5-month-old was more engaged with doctors but still had remarkably abnormal muscle tone.

During the testimony, Murray, who is standing trial for the severe neglect of her children and for the murder of two of three dead infants found in her home, remained expressionless.

A defense witness and obstetrician, Dr. Amos Grunebaum, was also called out of order.

Grunenbaum testified that unassisted, at home birth, increases the risk of still birth. Murray told investigators that she delivered all three of the infants found dead in her home in a bathroom.