Gruesome Story From The Usa

Child sized human remains found in the basement freezer of a US mother are those of her two adopted daughters, she told police.

Police, who believe she is responsible for their deaths, were investigating an abuse complaint Saturday when they discovered the remains encased in ice.

The mother told investigators that they had been in her southern Maryland home for at least seven months, and police said they are considering the case a homicide.

"We have reason to believe that's the two children in the freezer," Lieutenant Bobby Jones of Calvert County Sheriff's Office said. "We believe that the mother, who adopted the two children, is responsible for it."

Autopsies would need to be completed before they know for sure the remains are of the girls, who were aged nine and 11.

Deputies made the gruesome discovery in the home in Lusby, about 80km southeast of Washington, DC. They were there with a search warrant to investigate the treatment of another girl who had run away and "showed signs of extreme abuse and neglect", the sheriff's department said.

The girl's mother, 43-year-old Renee Bowman, has been arrested, and a judge has ordered her held without bond.

She is charged with first-degree child abuse in the beating of the runaway seven-year-old, who was found wandering in the neighbourhood wearing only a blood- and faeces-soaked T-shirt. The girl escaped from a locked bedroom by jumping out a second-story window, and Bowman admitted beating her with a "hard-heeled shoe", officials said.

Bowman told detectives that she brought the remains in the freezer with her to Lusby when she moved from Rockville, about 100km away, in February. Montgomery County Police are investigating whether the deaths took place in Rockville. Bowman has not been charged in the older girls' deaths.

It is not clear how the children might have died. The medical examiner's office in Baltimore was to examine the freezer and its contents. It was unclear how long it would take for autopsies to be completed.

Authorities said Bowman adopted three children from Washington. Montgomery County Police said detectives are trying to pin down when the older girls were last seen alive, as well as where the family was living and when.

According to charging documents drawn up before the remains were discovered, the seven-year-old went door-to-door looking for help after jumping from the window Friday night. A neighbour gave her clothes and called authorities.

The girl had open sores and lesions on her buttocks and lower thighs, marks on her neck made by a cord, rope or other item and bruises on her hands and lips. She told investigators her mother caused the injuries and that she jumped out the window to "free herself from her mother's relentless beatings", according to the documents. She is being cared for by child protective services.

No one was home when authorities arrived at the modest single-story house in the secluded, heavily wooded subdivision with narrow gravel roads. Bowman showed up later at the sheriff's office and said she had locked her daughter in the girl's bedroom while she went to Washington.

Bowman told the deputy who interviewed her about the seven-year-old's abuse "that she knew what she did was wrong", according to the charging documents. "She advised she (Bowman) was out of control and needed help."

Sheriff Mike Evans said the surviving girl was never enrolled in Calvert County Schools. He said neighbours had seen her and that no trouble had ever been reported at the house. Bowman's only contact with the sheriff's department since she arrived was a traffic ticket.

No lawyer had entered an appearance on Bowman's behalf Monday. Dorothy Hodge, deputy district public defender for Calvert County, said a lawyer from the office would interview Bowman to determine if she wanted to be represented.