Murder charges planned after children found in locker

Source: AP

By PAUL ELIAS

SALINAS, Calif. (AP) — Prosecutors said they will charge a woman and a teenager with first-degree murder in the deaths of two young children found dead in a rented storage unit in California.

Monterey County District Attorney Dean Flippo also said Thursday that autopsies had determined the children — ages 3 and 6 — died around Thanksgiving in Salinas of ongoing physical abuse.

The charges could be filed as soon as Friday and will include a special circumstance of torture that Flippo said could bring the death penalty if defendants Tami Huntsman, 39, and her 17-year-old male companion are convicted.

The teenager was not identified and the relationships between Huntsman and the children remained unclear.

FULL story at link.


A commercial storage unit facility is shown Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, where two children were found dead in Redding, Calif. Autopsies were planned for the 3-year-old girl and 6-year-old boy, whose names were not released. No charges have been filed in their deaths. The investigation began with a call about a possible child abuse case in the small town of Quincy, about 220 miles northeast of San Francisco. (Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight via AP)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/edb2649cc99f45b5abfe9a79939db002/murder-charges-planned-after-children-found-locker