An Armstrong County woman has been charged with criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse after police found three dead infants in her former residence.

Jessica Mauthe, 39, of Ford City, is currently being held in Armstrong County Prison without bail.

According to the affidavit, state police were called to a vacant Cadogan Township home on Saturday, Sept. 13, to assist the South Buffalo Police Department with their investigation into a possible dead infant. Mauthe had been evicted from the home in August, police said.

According to police, the property’s owner was cleaning the residence when he discovered a trash bag with a foul odor. After discovering something decomposing inside, the owner contacted police.

South Buffalo Police and the Armstrong County Coroner’s Office responded and confirmed a dead infant was inside the bag. State police then located two totes in the attic with trash bags containing two other suspected dead infants.

According to the affidavit, state police then interviewed Mauthe who said she had birthed the infant a year prior. Police said she recalled the baby was making noises before she suffocated it and put it in an upstairs bedroom closet.

Police said Mauthe told troopers that she had birthed two other infants which were also suffocated and placed in plastic bags before being put in totes in the attic.

The owner told police Mauthe was the previous tenant, saying she was evicted on Aug. 14, and he had changed the locks on Aug. 30.

Mauthe’s preliminary hearing in front of District Judge J. Gary DeComo is set for 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 23.