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Babies' bodies in German freezer | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
The bodies of three babies have been found in a basement freezer in the town of Wenden, in western Germany, prosecutors say. | |
A woman believed to be the mother of the three has been arrested, a state prosecutor's office spokesman said. | A woman believed to be the mother of the three has been arrested, a state prosecutor's office spokesman said. |
The three were not stillborn, police said, but the cause of death and the infants' ages have not been released. | The three were not stillborn, police said, but the cause of death and the infants' ages have not been released. |
There have been several similar cases in Germany recently, including a woman jailed for killing her eight children. | There have been several similar cases in Germany recently, including a woman jailed for killing her eight children. |
The babies appeared to have died shortly after birth and were in the freezer wrapped in plastic bags, the prosecutor's office said. | The babies appeared to have died shortly after birth and were in the freezer wrapped in plastic bags, the prosecutor's office said. |
Post-mortems are to be conducted to establish the cause of death, it added. | |
'1998' | |
One of the bags contained a newspaper from 1988, indicating the babies may have died that year, AFP news agency quoted police investigator Herbert Fingerhut as saying. | |
Officials said a couple with three children aged 18 to 24 lived at the house. | Officials said a couple with three children aged 18 to 24 lived at the house. |
Two of the couple's adult children found the babies when they were looking for something to eat while their parents were out, police said. | |
"They both decided to get a pizza and realised that the freezer had to be cleaned up because it was full of out-of-date food," Mr Fingerhut said. | |
"It was then that they discovered the first bag." | |
One of the couple's sons went with his parents to the police, who then searched the house and arrested the 44-year-old woman, who is believed to also be the mother of the three babies, German media have reported. | |
It is not the first such case in Germany. | It is not the first such case in Germany. |
Two years ago, the body of a dead toddler was found in the fridge of his drug-addicted parents in the northern city of Bremen. | Two years ago, the body of a dead toddler was found in the fridge of his drug-addicted parents in the northern city of Bremen. |
Also in 2006, a woman in eastern Germany was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing eight of her babies. | Also in 2006, a woman in eastern Germany was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing eight of her babies. |
She had buried them in flower pots and a fish tank in the garden of her parents' home near the Polish border. |