An Irving mother is in custody on suspicion of capital murder after her 5-year-old son was killed and his 2-year-old sister was critically hurt.

Police said the mother, Saiqa Akhter, called 911 about 5 p.m. Monday to say she had hurt her children at their apartment in the 3300 block of Esters Road.

"She said she'd done something terrible to the children," police spokesman David Tull said. "Officers arrived and they did find two children in extreme distress.

"Initial indications are that it's going to be a strangulation-type assault," he said.

Authorities found a wire at the apartment that they believe Akhter, 30, used to choke her children.

Zain Akhter was pronounced dead at Baylor Medical Center at Irving. Police said doctors at Children's Medical Hospital at Dallas had resuscitated his sister, Faryaal Akhter, multiple times. She remained in "very critical condition," Tull said.

Saiqa Akhter was the only adult home at the time of the attack, police said. Her husband was later seen leaving police headquarters with friends.

The family is believed to have lived at the Wind Tree Apartments for about a month.

Dozens of neighbors gathered beyond the crime scene tape as detectives gathered evidence from the Akhters' second-floor apartment.

Gilbert Medina, 25, who lives at the complex, said he saw the children as they were being taken from the home.

"They looked like they were passed out," Medina said.

Irving police declined to release additional details because the case was ongoing.

Although investigators had not offered a possible motive yet, Houston lawyer George Parnham said they should look for signs of postpartum depression, which can lead mothers to harm their children.

"Her doctors have to be consulted – pediatricians, relatives, husband, neighbors – just to find out what was going on," said Parnham, who was the defense attorney for Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in a bathtub in 2001.

Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity and remains in a state hospital.

Untreated postpartum depression can spiral into psychosis, and if left unaddressed, "can become more and more cemented in her decision-making processes regarding the kids," he said.

He said the disorder can last more than a year after a child's birth, and in women who have the disorder, it tends to worsen with subsequent pregnancies.

Staff writer Tanya Eiserer and Jason Whitley of WFAA-TV contributed to this report.

sgoldstein@dallasnews.com

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