Mother charged with murder after 4-year-old twin sons found dead in North Carolina home

A North Carolina mother has been charged with two counts of murder after her estranged husband found their 4-year-old twin sons dead in the family's home.

Genevieve Ellen Springer, 44, was arrested in Union County, Georgia after sheriff's deputies received a 911 call from her sons' father that morning, according to a Facebook post shared Sunday by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina.

The father told the dispatcher that he arrived Saturday around 10 a.m. at Springer's home in Murphy, North Carolina to exercise custody of their twins, according to the sheriff's office. When the boys' father walked in, he found them dead inside the residence, the sheriff's office said.

An investigation ensued and led to the police charging Springer when she was hospitalized in north Georgia, the sheriff's office said. Once released from the hospital, Springer was arrested and taken to the Cherokee County Detention Center, where she is being held without bond, according to the agency's Facebook post.

Murphy is a town in southwest North Carolina near the state's borders with Georgia and Tennessee.

Autopsies will show when the 4-year-old twins died, sheriff's office says

The date and time of the twin's deaths are under investigation, but their father is believed to have last seen them alive on Feb. 26, the sheriff's office said.

"The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office is hopeful that autopsies will narrow down the date and time of the twins’ passing," the Facebook post reads.

Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith is "asking for prayers for the victims' family, friends and all the first responders," according to the social post.

"Sheriff Smith would like to remind our County that our children are our most precious resource and our hope for the future," the post reads. "We all must stand united for their protection and for justice."

Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.