ELLSWORTH — State police are investigating a suspicious death that was reported on Christmas Day, according to Lt. Harold Page of the Ellsworth Police Department.

Local police were called to the scene of a death on Central Street, Page said. When they arrived at the scene, they found that it was suspicious, so they contacted the state police criminal investigation division.

According to neighbors, the deceased is a mother of two who lived in the house on Central Street with her two young children and husband. Early in the afternoon on Christmas Day, the children, aged 12 and eight, knocked on a neighbor’s door and told the woman who answered that their mother wasn’t waking up.

The neighbor, who asked not to be identified, had a casserole in her hands when the children arrived and was on her way to another neighbor’s house. She told them to meet her there and said that’s where they stayed for the rest of the day as concerned relatives of the young family arrived at the scene.

“It turned Christmas dinner into a wake,” said another neighbor.

A state trooper has been on the scene since Wednesday guarding the house. Investigators have been inside the house, but neighbors reported that the scene has been quiet.

“She was a very sweet person, working two jobs,” said the neighbor whose door the children had originally knocked on. “She just got a nursing assistant job. She was so proud of that.”

The neighbor said she believes the children and their father are now staying with their uncle.

State police did not immediately return phone calls on Friday morning.