Florida Child Abuse Attorney: Body Found Could Be Girl, 11

Florida investigators are examining a body found in a refrigerator, leaving child abuse attorneys and other advocates wondering if it is the remains of an 11-year-old girl who has been missing and is presumed dead. The mother, who declined to assist police, has been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse for a previous incident involving her 12-year-old son, notes the Bradenton Police Department.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office’s Child Protective Investigations unit Friday went to the family’s Bradenton apartment planning to remove the woman’s five children. Four were found, and the woman refused to discuss the whereabouts of her daughter, Janiya, who is believed to have been missing since 2014.

A girl’s body was found two days later in a freezer at the woman’s mother’s home. The body’s identity has not yet been determined.

Child Protective Services had removed the woman’s son after claims of abuse following his being held following an alleged shoplifting incident. Authorities claimed a family history of abuse. A physician later noted that the injuries the boy sustained appeared consistent with child abuse.