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Outburst At Custody Hearing For Mom Accused Of Killing 2 Kids, Putting Bodies In Freezer

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - A Detroit mother accused of murdering two of her children and storing their bodies in a freezer was removed from a courtroom when a judge had enough of her profanity-laced tirade.

A custody hearing Wednesday focused on whether 35-year-old Mitchelle Blair will lose her parental rights to her two surviving children — an 8-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl.

When the children's visitation with their fathers was discussed, Blair shouted that they were never there for the kids.

"She was calling the father of the child — the 17-year-old — a drunk, accused him of sexually assaulting her kids; and, in a very loud voice, saying that he didn't give an (expletive) about them," reported WWJ's Charlie Langton.

"Blair was removed by the police in the courtroom, taken in the back, you could hear her screaming down the hallway more obscenities at the packed courtroom," Langton said..

Blair, who was already handcuffed due to the status of her murder case, remains held without bond.

Right now, the surviving 17-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son are in protective custody. Investigators believe they also were abused at the hands of their mother.

The petition in family court to terminate Blair's parental rights says the 8-year-old told officials "he knew his sister and brother were killed and subsequently placed in the freezer."

The petition also says the child has 25 scars and injuries on his back "both old and new, as a result of physical abuse by Mitchelle Blair," as well as "numerous loop-shaped scars and injuries" on his body.

"These injuries are consistent with Mitchelle Blair using an extension cord to physically abuse them," the petition says.

It also says that the 17-year-old "has also been beaten with a cord." The teen told authorities neither she nor her siblings have gone to school in two years.

The bodies of two dead children were found at Blair's home March 24 by court officers carrying out an eviction in the Martin Luther King Apartments. They found the frozen corpses of 13-year-old Stoni Ann Blair and 9-year-old Stephen Gage Berry. Blair initially was charged with child abuse, but more charges were added after autopsies revealed the siblings were beaten to death.

Investigators believe Stephen died in August 2012 and Stoni died the following May.

The 17-year-old told child welfare officials that their mother tortured Stephen "for approximately two weeks prior to his death by tying a belt around his neck, throwing hot water on him while in the shower and putting a plastic bag over his head."

In the court filing, the state Department of Human Services said the 17-year-old also told them that after Blair killed Stephen, his body was wrapped in a bed linen and put in the freezer.

The daughter told officials that in May 2013, Stoni incensed their mother by saying she didn't like either of the surviving siblings, and the mother strangled Stoni with a T-shirt and placed a plastic bag over her mouth.

The oldest girl said she was forced her to put her sister's body in the freezer, the agency wrote.

Langton spoke with that child's father, Alexander Dorsey, asking what his daughter says about her mom.

"We don't talk about it...we don't talk about it," Dorsey said. "We don't talk about it, nothing; that's not what my daughter needs...So, she's going to school. She's gonna grow up to be somebody."

Dorsey requested full custody of his daughter; but the judge denied that for now, ordering continued supervised visitation.

The judge ruled that supervised visitation would also continue for the younger child's father, who was not present in court on Wednesday.

A trial is the parental rights case is set for June 4.

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