Two girls who police say were attacked by their hatchet-wielding mother died from dozens of chop wounds to the head and neck, according to autopsy reports.

The documents released Tuesday by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center detail the injuries suffered by Jiya Patel, 8, and her sister, Piya, 4, on the morning of Aug. 28 inside their home in the Oakley community.

The autopsy findings could be used in the prosecution of their mother, Naiyana Gauri Patel, 33, who is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Autopsies are standard procedure in homicide cases.

Patel's next appearance in Buncombe County District Court is scheduled for Nov. 14. She is being held in a state prison for women in Raleigh.

According to the autopsies, the children died of "multiple sharp force and chop injuries."

The wounds are up to about an inch deep and include skull fractures. Piya Patel suffered about 23 chop wounds to the left side of her head. Both girls also had numerous cuts to the arms, back, chest and abdomen.

X-rays showed that neither victim had any healing fractures.

Police said Naiyana Patel suffered from depression and had been seeing a psychiatrist and was taking medication before the children were killed at their home on Shannon Drive.

The attack was reported by the girls' father, Lalji Patel, in a frantic call to 911. The mother repeatedly hit herself in the head in a failed suicide attempt with the same hatchet used to kill the children, police said.

At the hospital, she told police that "the ghost killed her children" and that she didn't want to live or receive medical treatment, according to a search warrant application.

A judge ordered Patel held for safekeeping at a women's prison in Raleigh because she had tried to harm herself and displayed "violently aggressive behavior" despite being under 24-hour suicide watch at the hospital, according to court papers.