Prosecutors are deciding whether to charge the adoptive mother of a 9-year-old quadriplegic girl whose body was found in a storage unit — a child the woman had allegedly insisted was out of state when authorities first questioned her.
Charges could range from felony murder to lesser charges such as misdemeanor moving a corpse. The woman was arrested on Wednesday after police found Shylea Myza Thomas' body in a black trash bag, stuffed into a plastic bin with mothballs and locked in a storage unit near Flint.
Shylea had been taken out of school in January, and relatives told state officials they had not seen her in six weeks. At least one neighbour said she hadn't even been aware the little girl lived there.
"This is a very sad and tragic case that hurts all of us involved in the ongoing investigation," Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in a statement. "It appears that Shylea had a rough go in life."
A court document filed in the family division of the Genesee County Circuit Court to seize custody of seven other children who were living in the home identified the woman as 39-year-old Lorrie Thomas of Flint.
Officials said the woman was a blood relative of Shylea's who adopted her through the state. Authorities were reviewing evidence and results from an autopsy before deciding on charges, prosecutor John Potbury said.
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