Community Mourns 2 Detroit Kids Found In Freezer; 'Where Was The Village?'
DETROIT (WWJ) - Hundreds of people turned out to pay their last respects to a 13-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy who were found dead last month inside a deep freezer in their Detroit apartment.
"Probably as horrific an incident that I can ever imagine certainly doesn't even compare to the atrocities that were suffered by these children," said Bishop Charles H. Ellis, III, senior pastor at Greater Grace Temple, on West 7 Mile and Telegraph Road, where funeral services for the children were held Monday morning. "And certainly I am not sure if we will ever know the entire details."
Court officers carrying out an eviction on March 24 at a unit in the Martin Luther King Homes found the frozen corpses of Stoni Ann Blair and Stephen Gage Berry.
Their mother, 35-year-old Mitchelle Blair, initially was charged with child abuse; but murder and torture charges were added after autopsies revealed the siblings were beaten to death.
Ellis told WWJ's Ron Dewey the community must assess the failure that allowed this to happen.
"It's kinda a relief to get this day behind us and we can really start focusing on where we do from here," Ellis said. "The scary thing is that if indeed these children have been in this condition for two years...or more, it makes your wonder, you know, what is out there that we don't know about? And, I guess, that's the scary part of it."
Ellis said there has been a tremendous outpouring from the community, both financially and emotionally, with people asking what they can do to help.
"I think it absolutely is a wake up call for all of us; and that, again, is why my message is: 'Where was the village?' We all have to play a part in making sure that this never happens again."
Blair faces a parental rights trial set for June 4 to determine custody of her two surviving children, ages 11 and 17, who are now in a relative's care.
The elder child told welfare officials that Blair tortured Stephen "for approximately two weeks prior to his death by tying a belt around his neck, throwing hot water on him while in the shower and putting a plastic bag over his head."
In the court filing, the state Department of Human Services said the 17-year-old also told them that after Blair killed Stephen, his body was wrapped in a bed linen and put in the freezer.
The daughter told officials that in May 2013, Stoni incensed their mother by saying she didn't like either of the surviving siblings, and the mother strangled Stoni with a t-shirt and placed a plastic bag over her mouth — and that her mother forced her to put her sister's body in the freezer.
Blair will undergo a mental competency exam prior to a preliminary hearing in her murder case set for June 19.
