James E White, the chief of Detroit Police, gives an update to media
(Picture: Detroit Police / Facebook)A 30-year-old mother has been arrested after the body of her three-year-old son was found in a freezer inside the family’s Detroit home.
Officers said they made the discovery along with members of Child Protective Services while conducting a welfare check at the home where five other children lived.
Detroit Police chief, James E. White, told reporters on Friday: “This case has shocked me, shocked our investigators.”
It was not immediately clear how or when the boy died or how long his body had been in the freezer.
White said the discovery would not have been made without the officers’ intuition during the welfare check.
“When they talked to the occupant of the home they recognized there was something not right about the conversation and the way this occupant was communicating with them,” he said.
“Initially, the conversation was just to push the officers away as if there was nothing going on.”
The officers contacted a supervisor and later found the body in the freezer, White added.
"We’re getting support for the officers," he said.
“That’s something that no one should have to see. The other kids that were in the home, just imagine what they must have gone through and what they must have endured being inside of that home."
“There is no indication, at this time, what they knew," White added.
An autopsy will attempt to determine the manner and cause of the boy’s death, said officials.
The other children have been turned over to Child Protective Services with officers describing living conditions inside the home as “poor.”
Authorities have not released the mother’s name. White said investigators would look into whether she had previous contacts with police or Child Protective Services.
