A Keizer single mother is being held in jail without bail, accused of attempting to kill her three young sons on a Saturday night by poisoning them with carbon monoxide.

Chardonnay M. Benavidez, 32, is charged in Marion County Circuit Court with three counts of first-degree attempted murder, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and three counts of first-degree attempted assault.

According to a statement from the Keizer Police Department, Benavidez called emergency dispatchers at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday, June 6. She reported “her children falling in and out of consciousness after she attempted to kill them, and herself, with carbon monoxide.”

Carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas “that kills without warning,” according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The gas can’t be detected by humans and impairs people by blocking the body’s ability to process oxygen.

Police and medics found Benavidez in the living room of their south Keizer home on Northeast Holly Court with the children – twin 2-year-old boys and a 4-year-old boy.

“Officers located a vehicle in an attached garage with a makeshift apparatus running from the vehicle’s exhaust pipe that ran into the interior of the vehicle,” the police statement.

The father, Antonio Benavidez, said he later found pillows and blankets in the SUV, “just like they were camping.”

The mother later told a Keizer police detective that she told her boys that they were going to “have a fun slumber party” in the car with popcorn.

The four were taken to Salem Hospital and the children were released the next day to their father, who also lives in Keizer. The mother was arrested that day.

Benavidez made her initial appearance in court on Monday, June 8, where a judge ordered her held without bail. She is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, June 17, on an indictment that will replace the initial charges.

The father said Monday that his children “are fine.”

He said he returned with the children to the home in a triplex used by his wife. He said he was stunned by what he found.

“The house was stripped,” he said. He said family photos and finger paintings by the boys were gone.

“There were no clothes. There were no shoes,” he said.

A neighbor told him his wife had been setting out items on the sidewalk, free for the taking.

“We did not see this coming,” he said.

One neighbor said the reported crime was a “huge surprise” involving a mother who watched movies in the back yard with her children.

According to court records, Benavidez married her husband in Hawaii in 2021 and they had one son. The family moved to Keizer in June 2023 and the twin boys were born later that year.

The couple divorced in 2024. The mother sought and was awarded child support.

“I have been out of work for 3 years and I need financial help until I become self-supporting,” she said in her petition.

On a Facebook page maintained by Benavidez, she wrote in one post in April, “I love doing things with my kids.” In another post with a video: “The best thing about me is these three. I’m so lucky to have been chosen to be their mama.”

On June 1, she shared another post about motherhood that said in part, “Not since becoming a mom have I needed someone to remind me to show up for my child.”

Two days later, a post was more despairing. “Pretty sure I’ve survived a hundred heart attacks & i don’t know how much more i can take,” she wrote three days before she summoned police to her home.

An acquaintance shared details about her life, asking not to be identified for concerns over his safety.

“She was one of the best mothers I’ve ever known,” he said. “She was an amazing mother.”

He said she took her children on trips to aquariums and petting zoos. She engaged in crafts.

He said Benavidez was “struggling with her mental health.” She was a U.S. Army veteran and had been seeking help from the federal Veterans Administration.

Benavidez said she suffered from depression for 10 years and was seeing a therapist, according to an affidavit by Detective Roland Farrens of the Keizer Police Department. He wrote that she explained “how she and the kids are stuck in Oregon and she does not have any friends or family here.”

“She was crying out for help,” the acquaintance said.

Contact Editor Les Zaitz: [email protected].