3 dead babies found in freezer

2008-05-05 20:47

Berlin - In the latest case to shock Germany, authorities said on Monday they have discovered three dead babies in a freezer and arrested the woman believed to be the childrens' mother.

The discovery of the babies, all of whom appear to have been newborns when they died, came late on Sunday after members of the arrested woman's family alerted the police, prosecutors said.

The 44-year-old woman already has three children aged 18-24.

The woman has been placed under medical supervision because of her mental state and was to be questioned, said prosecutors' spokesperson Ewald Weinberger.

The freezer containing the bodies was in the cellar of a detached house in the town of Wenden, about 100km east of Bonn.

The corpses, which according to local television channel WDR were wrapped in bags, were to undergo autopsies once they have thawed, Weinberger said.

Left them to die

Another television channel, N24, speculated that the mother was able to conceal her pregnancies because she was overweight.

Germany has witnessed numerous similar cases in recent years. Most notable was Sabine Hilschenz, in eastern Germany, who killed nine of her newborn babies and hid the remains in buckets and flowerpots as well as in an old fish tank at her parents' home.

The divorced, unemployed dental assistant told investigators she did not harm the children, but left them to die after giving birth alone every time following heavy drinking.

She was found guilty of eight counts of manslaughter in 2006 and is currently serving a 15 year prison sentence.

In December 2007 a 31-year-old woman was arrested after police recovered the bodies of five children aged between three and nine years old were found in a house in Darry, near the northern city of Kiel.

The same week a woman was arrested in Plauen in eastern Germany on suspicion of killing three newborn babies she had given birth too. The bodies were discovered in a trunk in the cellar, on the balcony and in the fridge.

Last November, a 35-year-old woman from Erfurt was sentenced to 12 years in jail for killing two of her babies and hiding their bodies in a freezer.

- AFP