DETROIT (AP) – Autopsies will be performed Thursday on a Detroit brother and sister whose bodies were found in a deep freezer in their home, unless the bodies are still frozen.
The bodies of the 14-year-old girl and her 11-year-old brother must thaw before the autopsies can be done, said Ryan Bridges, a spokesman for the Wayne County medical examiner’s office.
Court officers found the bodies Tuesday while serving an eviction notice on the family’s home in an apartment complex near downtown Detroit. Police arrested the children’s 36-year-old mother on undisclosed preliminary charges hours later. A prosecutor’s office spokeswoman said police hadn’t yet forwarded the case for consideration of formal charges.
Authorities haven’t released the mother’s name. Her two other children, ages 11 and 17, had been living at the home and were placed in protective custody.
Neighbors said they hadn’t seen the dead children in about a year. None of the four children was enrolled in Detroit schools, and friends said their mother was home-schooling them.