Brittany Pilkington, a mom from Ohio, has admitted to murdering her three small sons. It was Tuesday when emergency responders tried to save her three-month-old baby Noah, just days after a court returned him to her. Four-year-old Gavin died in April, and three-month-old Niall died last summer. When paramedics arrived to save Noah earlier this week, they noticed a pattern. That’s when Brittany Pilkington made the confession to her horrific crimes.

“She has confessed to placing a blanket over the faces of three of her children and holding them either face down or face up until they expired,” prosecutor William Goslee told reporters on Wednesday.

“No one could predict the behavior of this mother, a 23-year-old mother who is apparently killing her children in order to preserve the smaller family with her and her daughter and the father of the children,” Goslee added.

Family of Brittany Pilkington stunned by reported confession she killed her 3 sons http://t.co/xTFWze1DIe pic.twitter.com/SNVjqRIA20

— WTTE FOX 28 (@fox28columbus) August 20, 2015

When questioned about why the court returned baby Noah–as well as his sister, who was unharmed–into Brittany Pilkington’s care, Goslee said, “The court found there was insufficient evidence to justify keeping the children out of the home because there was no evidence of foul play at the time.”

He was then asked if the system failed Noah, as well as the other two sons Brittany Pilkington murdered.

“You cannot predict behavior that is so erratic,” he said. “Did the system fail? The system failed to see the unforeseeable. … It’s a damn shame.”

Bond was set at $1M for Brittany Pilkington, the mom charged with murder in death of 3 sons http://t.co/Nfd9EKXPH4 pic.twitter.com/cGzAecMsc5

— WHIOTV (@whiotv) August 20, 2015

It is uncertain how Brittany Pilkington killed her first two sons.

Police question if Pilkington may have killed her sons because she believed her husband favored the boys over her and her daughter.

Brittany Pilkington told authorities her best friend was her three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. She was estranged from most of her family members.