Detroit Mom Of Children Found In Freezer Fights For Custody Of Remaining Kids
DETROIT (WWJ) - More than two months since two of her children were found dead in her deep freezer, a Detroit mother is fighting for the custody of her remaining kids.
A bench trial in Wayne County Circuit Court is set to begin Thursday in the custody case involving Mitchelle Blair's two living children: an 8-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl.
The Michigan Department of Human Services is seeking to terminate Blair's parental rights, as well as the rights of their fathers — Steven Berry and Alexander Dorsey.
The dads, who currently have supervised visitation, are also fighting for custody, claiming Barry had denied them access to their kids. The state says the fathers rarely see the kids and owe thousands of dollars in child support.
The frozen corpses of 13-year-old Stoni Ann Blair and 9-year-old Stephen Gage Berry. were found at Blair's apartment home March 24 by court officers carrying out an eviction.
Blair initially was charged with child abuse, but more charges were added after autopsies revealed the siblings were beaten to death.
The petition in family court to terminate Blair's parental rights says the 8-year-old told officials "he knew his sister and brother were killed and subsequently placed in the freezer."
The petition also says the child had numerous scars as well as new inquiries on his body, and that he and his sister had both been beaten by Blair with an extension cord and neither had been two school in two years.
The 17-year-old told child welfare officials that their mother tortured Stephen for about two weeks in August, 2012, before killing him, wrapping him in a sheet and putting in the freezer.
The daughter told officials that, the following May, Stoni angered Blair by saying she didn't like either of the surviving siblings, and that's when she said their mother strangled Stoni with a T-shirt and placed a plastic bag over her mouth.
The oldest girl said she was forced her to put her sister's body in the freezer, the agency wrote.
Blair remains jailed without bond on murder, torture and child abuse charges. The kids are in protective custody.
