Maryland Police visited the southern Maryland home of 43 year-old Renee Bowman to investigate abuse allegations and discovered the remains of two children in a freezer in the basement. Bowman admits they were her two adopted daughters.
The police were implementing a search warrant to investigate abuse of another young girl who had run away from Bowman and in the words of the sheriff's department, "showed signs of extreme abuse and neglect," when they discovered the remains of two other children in the freezer kept in the basement of the house as reported by CNN.
She is charged with first-degree child abuse in the beating of the runaway 7-year-old, who was found wandering in the neighborhood wearing only a blood- and feces-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.
According to the reports, the 7 year-old girl jumped out of a window on Friday night and went door-to-door searching for help. One resident gave her clothes and dialed 911.
The child had open sores and lesions on her buttocks and thighs, marks on her neck made by a cord,rope or other item and bruises on her hands and lips. She told authorities she jumped out of the window so she could "free herself from her mother's relentless beatings."
Bowman is being held without bond at this time.
According to Lt. Bobby Jones of Calvert County Sheriff's Office, it is believed the mother is responsible for the death of the two children found in the freezer, aged 9 and 11 years old.
Bowman had adopted three girls from the District of Columbia, the one that is seven now and the other two would be ages 9 and 11.
Autopsies must be complete for police to know if the remains are of the two adopted girls even after Bowman admitted they were.
Bowman also admitted to the police she transported the freezer with the bodies in it, from her home in Rockville to her newer home in Lusby when she moved in February. Authorities are trying to determine when the two older girls were last seen alive.
Bowman has not yet been charged in the death of the two older girls as of yet.
[Update] The Calvert Sheriff's Department press release about this case provided by the Washington Post.
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