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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester woman has been acquitted of charges connected to her alleged attempt to kill her five young children because of mental illness.

The decision was issued today by an Olmsted CountyJudge in the case of 33-year-old Fahriyo Abdullahi, who had been charged with five counts of first-degree attempted murder and five additional felony counts of child endangerment. Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem says his office has initiated a petition to have her civilly committed and Abdullahi remains in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center pending her placement at another facility.

Abdullahi was arrested last year after she admitted to investigators that she tried to kill herself and her children, saying she "had hoped they would all die peacefully." The charges against her alleged she placed the five children in her car while the engine was running and the exhaust was filling the vehicle with fumes. She told investigators she called off her murder-suicide plan after the children began getting sick.

Court records indicate Abdullahi has been on medication for treatment of depression and schizophrenia and may have been off her medications for several months or longer. The criminal proceedings against Abdullahi report on hold late last year after an Olmsted County judge ruled she was incompetent to stand trial. After receiving treatment, the judge found her competent to face prosecution earlier this year, clearing the way for today's court trial.

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