Two children found in freezer were homicide victims

DETROIT (REUTERS) - The deaths of two children whose bodies were found in a freezer in a Detroit apartment were the result of homicides, a county medical examiner said on Friday.

The mother of the children, Mitchelle Angela Blair, 35, has been held on felony charges of child abuse in the case pending the completion of autopsies to determine their cause of death and prosecutors have said they planned to file murder charges.

Stoni Ann Blair died at age 13 from multiple blunt trauma and Stephen Gage Berry died at age nine from multiple blunt trauma and thermal injuries, the Wayne County Medical Examiner found.

The bodies were found when a court officer and her crew were carrying out an eviction at the mother's apartment.

Police tracked down Blair at another apartment in the complex.

Blair's other children, a 17-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son, are in protective custody, prosecutors said.

A Michigan magistrate judge on Thursday set Blair's bond at US$1 million (S$1.3 million).

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