WFAA-TV

HUDSON OAKS - The medical examiner that ruled the death of a mother and her three children a murder-suicide spoke publicly for the first time Thursday.

While friends of Gilberta Estrada-Vega said they have found it almost impossible to believe she would kill herself, Dr. Peerwani said he has no doubt that is exactly what happened the day she was found dead the closet of her trailer.

Dr. Peerwani and Sheriff Larry Fowler said it appears the three children died with out putting up a fight.

"We can say quite definitively there were no signs to suggest a struggle," Dr. Peerwani said.

He also said no answers may ever emerge on just how Estrada went about hanging herself and her four children.

"One can't really be absolutely certain whether there was an attempt at strangulation first and then hanging," he said.

But he said what is certain is that the type of deaths endured by Estrada and her children are not instantaneous.

"Asphyxiation by hanging takes anywhere from a few minutes, three minutes, five minutes, ten minutes at the most for a person to die," he said.

As a result, Dr. Peerwani's ordered extensive toxicology testing for on the children to see if they were given any sedatives. A hospital screening revealed nothing unusual in the blood of 8-month-old Evelyn, who was the only child to survive.

But even if sedatives were used, it is possible the testing on the other three could still turn up nothing since some sedatives are difficult to detect in later screening.

Peerwani said he believes the 25-year-old mother and her daughters probably died no more than an hour before being discovered.

Now, relatives are preparing for their funerals. While Estrada and her oldest daughter will be buried by her family, the services for the two younger daughters will be handled by their father, which is the man Estrada won a restraining order against.

E-mail chawes@wfaa.com