A 31-year-old mother was arrested after the body of her 3-year-old son was found in a basement freezer.
Detroit police officers and members of Child Protective Services were conducting a welfare check on the Wayne County home on Friday when they discovered the body.
“This case has shocked me, shocked our investigators,” Detroit Police Chief James White said. “But the discovery would not have been possible without the officers’ intuition. When they talked to the occupant of the home they recognized there was something not right about the conversation and the way this occupant was communicating with them. Initially, the conversation was just to push the officers away as if there was nothing going on.”
It is unclear how the child was killed or how long his body had been in the freezer but an autopsy has been scheduled.
Five other children who lived at the home have been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Officials say they lived in “poor” conditions.
The mother Azuradee France, has been charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, torture, and concealing the death of an individual.