LAYTON -- Yun Hui Englan could not sleep after learning a friend is accused of killing her two children.
"I still don't believe it," said Englan, who owns and operates Yun's Korean Market.
"I couldn't sleep all night," she said Thursday, her eyes filling with tears. "They are good kids."
The Davis County Attorney's Office filed two counts of aggravated murder against Sun Cha Warhola, 44, late Thursday afternoon. If convicted of either charge, Sun Cha Warhola could receive the death penalty, 25 years to life in Utah State Prison, or life without parole.
She had been booked into Davis County Jail early Thursday morning.
Layton police found her son, James Warhola, 8, and her daughter, Jean Warhola, 7, unresponsive in the boy's bedroom after being called to the family's home Wednesday night.
A hearing is scheduled at 1 p.m. today in 2nd District Court in Farmington.
According to court documents, Kenneth Warhola, 46, the children's father, arrived home from work around 5:45 p.m. He found his wife had barricaded the door to James' bedroom.
She told him "to give her 10 minutes before coming into the room." When he returned, the door was still barricaded, so he pushed it open, the documents state.
Sun Cha Warhola told Kenneth "not to look at the children who were lying on the bed covered with a blanket. He felt his son's face and found it cold to the touch and he then called police," according to the document.
Emergency medical personnel declared the children dead at the scene, Layton Police Lt. Quinn Moyes said at a news conference Thursday morning outside the Warhola home at 2184 Snowqualmie Circle.
Yellow police tape surrounded the property, which is next to the mountains. Police vehicles and crime scene investigators' vehicles were still parked along the east side of the street late Thursday afternoon.
Neighbors also have questions as to why something like this happened in their neighborhood.
"It's been really hard," said Maddison Bailey, 18, who lives across the street. "I've lived here all my life and we've never had any incidents like this."
Bailey said the two children often played in other neighbors' yards, "because there is no yard back there," pointing to the Warhola home.
Everyone liked James and Jean, and the children never gave any indication anything was wrong at home, she said.
Bailey said when she left her home around 6 p.m. Wednesday, she noticed the two children were not outside, but didn't think about it at the time. She also saw Kenneth Warhola come home.
"He usually walks down with the kids to get the mail, but he didn't yesterday," Bailey said.
Christopher Williams, community relations director for Davis School District, said eight counselors were sent Thursday morning to East Layton Elementary to help faculty, staff and parents cope with the news of the deaths.
James was in third grade and Jean was in second grade at the school.
The Warhola children were "well-known and well-liked" within the school, Williams said.
Counselors may return today if school officials request them.
Williams said school and district officials went to each classroom and talked to the children about what happened, without giving too much detail.
"The teachers put on their game face to get through the day, but they are pretty ripped up inside," he said.
If children have questions, Williams said, parents "should be open and honest with them" and also assure them they are "safe at home."
According to court documents, the children had "distinct ligature marks around their necks."
Moyes said it appeared there was some type of struggle inside the home.
The children, as well as Sun Cha Warhola, had defensive wounds on their bodies. The mother was taken to Davis Hospital and Medical Center in Layton, where she was treated, and then released to Layton police.
Both parents were interviewed separately Wednesday night before Sun Cha Warhola was arrested.
According to state court records, Sun Cha Warhola and Kenneth Warhola were each charged on Feb. 24 with class B misdemeanor assault in an incident that happened Jan. 4.
Both pleaded guilty April 6 to an infraction -- which is a reduced charge -- and were each sentenced to serve three months of probation, complete 48 hours of community service and pay a fine of $300.
Moyes said police also are looking at prior calls to the home to see if there is any link to the children's deaths.
Rick John, who lives across the street from the Warholas, said he has seen police cars there several times in the past few weeks. He said the children came to his home often to play because he had a dog and they did, too.
John said when he learned of the children's deaths, his reaction "was not good."
"They were really good kids," he said.
He said Sun Cha Warhola had recently made some allegations of abuse "that were off the wall."
"Speculation about any alleged sexual abuse on the part of the children's father is baseless and very unfair to him," Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings told the Standard-Examiner on Thursday.
However, John doesn't understand why police couldn't do more.
"I don't know, maybe their hands were tied legally," John said.
He said he and his wife thought something bad may happen in the home, but believed it would be the parents hurting each other, not the children.
Moyes said the couple lived at the home for several years.
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