Abuse investigation leads to 2 dead children in storage unit

  • By KRISTIN J. BENDER and SCOTT SMITH
  • Wednesday, December 16, 2015 1:03am
  • News

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A child abuse investigation led to the bodies of two young children inside a commercial storage unit in Northern California, along with a starving, injured 9-year-old at a house about 140 miles away, authorities said Tuesday.

The 3-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy were found dead Friday at a storage facility in Redding, a city of 91,000 about 300 miles north of San Francisco.

Homicide detectives were investigating, and autopsies were planned for Wednesday. The children’s names were not released.

The investigation began with a call about a possible child abuse case in the small Northern California town of Quincy.

On Friday, authorities found the starving 9-year-old at a Quincy home, according to a news release from the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office. The unidentified girl was taken to a hospital. No details on her condition were available Tuesday.

Sheriff’s officials later arrested a 17-year-old boy and 39-year-old woman on abuse allegations related to the 9-year-old. Each remained jailed Tuesday on $1 million bail. The two were being held on suspicion of felony child abuse, torture and mayhem.

Attorneys Douglas Prouty, who represents the 39-year-old, and Robert Zernich, who represents the teen, both declined to comment. The Associated Press typically does not identify abuse victims; it is not naming the teen or the woman because their relationship to the children is unclear.

The investigation then led authorities about 140 miles northwest, to the Redding storage facility where they found the bodies. A woman who answered the phone there Tuesday declined to comment.

Redding Police Lt. Pete Brindley wouldn’t say whether the two children were killed in the storage unit or elsewhere. No other details were released.

Meanwhile, south of San Francisco, authorities searched a home in Salinas, where the teen and woman recently lived. They did not say whether they found anything.

Social services had investigated the 39-year-old and her family within the last year for general neglect, said Elliott Robinson, director of social services for Monterey County.

Robinson’s office filed the death reports for the two children found in Redding. He declined to comment further.

Brindley said he expects more details to be released later Tuesday.

More in News

The Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Encore docks in Juneau in October of 2022. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
Ships in port for t​​he Week of April 22

Here’s what to expect this week.

Rep. Sarah Vance, a Homer Republican, discusses a bill she sponsored requiring age verification to visit pornography websites while Rep. Andrew Gray, an Anchorage Democrat who added an amendment prohibiting children under 14 from having social media accounts, listens during a House floor session Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
House passes bill banning kids under 14 from social media, requiring age verification for porn sites

Key provisions of proposal comes from legislators at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

The Ward Lake Recreation Area in the Tongass National Forest. (U.S. Forest Service photo)
Neighbors: Public input sought as Tongass begins revising 25-year-old forest plan

Initial phase focuses on listening, informing, and gathering feedback.

Lily Hope (right) teaches a student how to weave Ravenstail on the Youth Pride Robe project. (Photo courtesy of Lily Hope)
A historically big show-and-tell for small Ravenstail robes

About 40 child-sized robes to be featured in weavers’ gathering, dance and presentations Tuesday.

Low clouds hang over Kodiak’s St. Paul Harbor on Oct. 3, 2022. Kodiak is a hub for commercial fishing, an industry with an economic impact in Alaska of $6 billion a year in 2021 and 2022, according to a new report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Report portrays mixed picture of Alaska’s huge seafood industry

Overall economic value rising, but employment is declining and recent price collapses are worrisome.

Sen. Bert Stedman chairs a Senate Finance Committee meeting in 2023. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska Senate panel approves state spending plan with smaller dividend than House proposed

Senate proposal closes $270 million gap in House plan, but further negotiations are expected in May.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Wednesday, April 24, 2024

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

High school students in Juneau attend a chemistry class in 2016. (Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
JDHS ranks fourth, TMHS fifth among 64 Alaska high schools in U.S. News and World Report survey

HomeBRIDGE ranks 41st, YDHS not ranked in nationwide assessment of more than 24,000 schools.

Most Read