DETROIT (AP) - Hundreds of people turned out Monday to mourn a sister and brother whose mother is accused of torturing and killing them and then stuffing their bodies in a deep freezer at their Detroit home.
Greater Grace Temple hosted the funeral for Stoni Ann Blair and Stephen Gage Berry.
Investigators say they believe Stephen died in August 2012 at age 9, and Stoni died the following May at age 13.
“Probably as horrific an incident that I can ever imagine certainly doesn’t even compare to the atrocities that were suffered by these children,” said Bishop Charles H. Ellis III, the church’s senior pastor. “And certainly I am not sure if we will ever know the entire details.”
Court deputies carrying out an eviction March 24 at the Detroit apartment found the children’s frozen bodies.
Mitchelle Blair is charged with premeditated murder, torture and child abuse. She is to undergo a mental competency exam before a probable cause hearing scheduled for June 19.
“It makes you wonder, you know, what is out there that we don’t know about. And I guess that’s the scary part of it,” WWJ-AM radio quoted Ellis as saying. “It absolutely is a wake-up call for all of us. … My message is, ’Where was the village?’ We all have to play a part in making sure that this never happens again.”
Ellis said there has been tremendous community support, financial and otherwise, for two surviving siblings and the family members caring for them.
Those two siblings, a 17-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy, are being looked after by a relative. The state is trying to terminate Blair’s parental rights to them.
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