A body found in a freezer this month is likely that of a missing girl whose mother was the subject of child abuse reports long before she disappeared from Florida.
According to police, an icebox containing the possible remains of 11-year-old Janiya Thomas had been relocated by her mother only a week ago and just days after they began questioning the woman about her daughter’s whereabouts.
The owners of the house that the “locked” freezer had been moved to earlier this month contacted authorities upon learning through media reports that Keishanna Thomas’s little girl was actually missing, not “visiting” relatives.
An adult male who assisted Keishanna Thomas in transporting the freezer chest with a young child’s frozen body interred inside it has also been identified now and questioned, said a law enforcement official.
The suspect’s 12-year-old son is credited with turning in his abusive mother, the spokesman said; adding that it was only when Child Protective Services finally investigated the boy’s claims that caseworkers realized his 11-year-old sister was nowhere to be found.
Thomas’s other four children, including that unnamed son, were then judiciously removed from her home and a full investigation launched.
However, the boy’s story of routine beatings and other privations at the hands of his parent had initially been dismissed by social workers -- their inaction no doubt accounting for the delay in discovering his younger sibling Janiya Thomas was in danger, or even already slain.
