DETROIT (AP) — A Detroit mother accused of killing two of her children and storing their bodies in a freezer yelled during separate court outbursts Thursday that she killed them.
Mitchelle Blair was temporarily removed during the custody trial to settle her parental rights to her surviving 8-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter.
She was arrested March 24 after court deputies carrying out an eviction at her apartment found the bodies of Stoni Blair, 13, and Stephen Berry, 9, in a deep freezer. Police believe they died months apart in 2012 and 2013.
Blair is charged with murder, torture and child abuse. She is to undergo a mental competency exam before a June 19 probable cause hearing in the murder cases.
As a videotape was played Thursday in court showing Blair’s surviving son telling a social worker that he saw his brother killed, Blair yelled that he “didn’t see me kill Stephen, ’cause it was unintentional.”
On another occasion Blair yelled: “Everybody wants to know. Yes, I did kill her,” referencing Stoni.
Blair’s surviving son also said in the interview with the social worker that he was whipped with a cord and that his 17-year-old sister was hit with a hammer. Both surviving siblings have been placed in a relative’s care.
Thursday’s trial in Wayne County Circuit Court will determine if Blair loses custody of the two children. The state also wants to end the parental rights of their fathers. The state says the fathers rarely see the kids and owe thousands of dollars in child support.
Testimony will resume Friday.
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Guess no one told her that outside a Perry Mason episode, no one breaks down and proclaims their guilt.
Headline on the home page:
What the heck is MurThe ders?
So her son did not see her kill him because it was an accident. It is still killing him…
I wish the best, better than the best for her remaining kids, this is one sad sad story.
Why is the court working to keep their fathers out of their lives? Shouldn’t they at least try and keep them together on some level? Does the court understand now why the fathers may not have visited their children at this psycho woman’s house? The courts, children’s advocates and the media all keep telling us how important a father is in a child’s life and then the courts do something like this and the media doesn’t even question it. And STILL nobody seems to be able to tell the difference between those who won’y pay child support and those who can’t.