The decaying body of a 3-year-old boy was found Friday in a freezer at his mother’s dilapidated Detroit home, only after the woman’s family reportedly contacted child protective authorities more than a dozen times, WJBK-TV reports.Five other children were also found living in squalor inside the residence on the city’s west side, according to the Detroit News.The disturbing discovery was made after police officers and a state child welfare advocate arrived at the home in the morning to perform a wellness check.Stuffed animals were lined on the home’s front steps and children’s bicycles could be seen in the backyard, but authorities immediately began to suspect something was wrong when a woman answered the door.“She tried to push the officers away as if there was nothing going on,” Detroit Police Chief James White told reporters during a news conference, according to the newspaper. “Something was not right about the conversation.”The team entered the residence and found the five children living in filthy conditions. When investigators opened a freezer in the basement, they discovered the decomposing remains believed to be of a 3-year-old boy.Authorities have not determined how long the boy was in the freezer or if any of the other children knew he was in it. There are varying accounts of how long the boy was missing.Police arrested the woman at the home, believed to be the mother of all the children in the home, including the boy found in the freezer.“This case has shocked me, and shocked our investigators,” White told reporters, according to the newspaper. “The other kids who were in the home, just imagine what they’ve gone through. Imagine what they endured living in that home.”Toni Haynes, the boy’s grandmother, told the Detroit News that the boy’s name is Chase Allen. Unnamed family members told WJBK-TV that Chase was blind and had other disabilities.“She (the mother) couldn’t deal with it, and we all said give him to us if you can’t deal with it,” a relative told the television station.
The family member said they had reported the woman to CPS in at least 13 instances this year alone, but when advocates went to the home, they were not allowed inside.Haynes said she and others in the family had reported her 30-year-old daughter to child protective services “dozens of times,” according to the Detroit News.Haynes recalled one episode in which her daughter allegedly claimed the boy burned his hand by touching some noodles.“I knew that was some bull****,” Haynes told the newspaper. “I called CPS on her. A lot of us called, and they’d come out and give her kids right back to her.”Haynes told the newspaper that her daughter said the state had made multiple visits and that Chase went to live with the girlfriend of his paternal grandfather.“But then (the grandfather) got out of jail and he told me Chase wasn’t living with his girlfriend,” Haynes told the Detroit News.Two weeks ago, relatives reportedly went to the home to confront the daughter and later contacted CPS again.“You wouldn’t believe how pissed off I am about this,” Haynes told the newspaper.Authorities brought the five surviving children to the hospital for evaluation, where they will also be interviewed by a child psychologist, according to WDIV-TV. The other children are reportedly two girls, ages 3 months and 9 years old, and three boys, ages 2, 5 and 7 years old.“The house was in poor condition, and there is a lot of concern for the other children based on what we saw in the home,” White told reporters, according to the Detroit News.It is not publicly clear what prompted police and CPS to conduct the welfare check on Friday morning, but White said investigators are examining previous contact the woman may have had with CPS and law enforcement.Officers who entered the home have been offered counseling.Lynette Hardy, the next-door neighbor, described the children as “deprived” and said she often purchased them food and clothing.“I did help clothe them and feed them and take care of them,” Hardy told the newspaper. “They were very loving children. As a matter of fact, the mother was loving.“They didn’t have anything. In the winter I saw them with summer clothes on . . . summer shoes, some had no shirts.“I picked up the children Saturday and (the mother and I) had a nice conversation,” Hardy told the Detroit News. “She asked me did I know of any tutoring programs for the children to learn how to read, and I gave her the best information I had.”Hardy does not believe she met the 3-year-old boy found in the freezer and told the newspaper she thought he was with relatives. Still, she said she is “devastated” by the situation.“I never met him. (His mother) said that her aunt and uncle in Alabama had him . . . and that he was really adjusting.”Hardy added that she is actively praying for the other children found at the home.“I believe in prayer,” Hardy told the Detroit News. “Those kids need a lot of attention. They need a lot of schooling. They need a lot of help.”Haynes, the grandmother, has established a GoFundMe page to pay for Chase’s funeral and to help support the other children.“If anyone has anything other than money that they can donate to the children, we would greatly appreciate that too due to the mother being incarcerated,” Haynes wrote on the page. “Please keep our family in your prayers.”
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[Feature Photo: Attached: Chase Allen/GoFundMe]
