Bond Set At $1 Million For Detroit Mother Of 2 Kids Found Dead In Freezer
DETROIT (WWJ) - Bond has been set at $1 million for a mother of two Detroit children whose frozen bodies were found in their low-income apartment home.
Mitchelle Blair, 35, was arraigned via video feed in 36th District Court Thursday, charged with five counts of first-degree child abuse — and she could face first degree murder charges once investigators determine how the children died.
Blair was arrested Tuesday after court officers serving an eviction notice opened a deep freezer to make the horrifying discovery: the bodies of young Stoni Ann Blair and Stephen Gage Berry in plastic bags.
[Detroit Mother Kept Children's Bodies In Freezer For Years After Murders; Neighbors May Have Known]
Prosecutors believe that when the children died, the girl was 13 years old and her brother was 9.
Blair's two other children, ages 11 and 17, were unharmed, but knew their dead siblings were inside the freezer, according to reports. They've been placed in protective custody.
Autopsies were scheduled to take place Thursday but could be delayed due to the frozen condition of the bodies.
Magistrate Renee McDuffee granted a request by Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Carin Goldfarb that Blair not have any contact with her surviving children, saying that Blair is a danger to them and the community.
According to reports, Blair confessed to killing her children.
She's due back in court for a preliminary exam on Tuesday, April. 2, and could face up to life in prison if convicted.
