Detroit mother of 4 arrested after 2 kids found dead in freezer (UPDATED)

 A Detroit mother was arrested Tuesday after the frozen bodies of a boy and girl were found in a deep freezer in the family's home, police said.
Court officers found the children's bodies while carrying out an eviction order at the 3-bedroom home in the apartment complex just east of downtown. An autopsy will determine how they died.
Police initially reported a woman's body was found in the freezer, but later said it was actually the bodies of the two children in a plastic bag.
The boy was about 11 and the girl was 14, said police Chief James Craig who called it a "terrible find."
The woman, identified as 35-year-old Mitchelle Blair, had not been charged by prosecutors as of Tuesday evening in connection with the deaths of her children, a boy about 11 years old and a girl about 14. She was also not in the apartment when the court officers or police arrived. "One of the community members here ... approached our officers and advised that they knew where the parent was located," Craig said.
The children's mother was found in a nearby apartment and questioned. She was arrested later
Two of the woman's other children, ages 11 and 17, were found at a neighbor's home and placed in protective custody.
Neighbor and friend Tori Childs said she hadn't seen the two dead children in about a year.
"I haven't seen them since they were playing with my step-kids," Childs said.
Childs' mother, Carrie McDonald, also lives in the low-income housing complex. McDonald said she spoke by phone Tuesday morning with the 36-year-old woman.
"She told me this morning, 'Ms. Carrie, if you don't never see me again just know that I love you,'" McDonald said. "I love her. The mother is a beautiful person. She was just going through some things."
The woman's four children were not in Detroit schools. Friends said she was home-schooling them.
"She took her kids out of school because she thought something was going to happen to them," McDonald said.
The woman has lived in the complex at least 10 years. She was unemployed, was having money troubles and had gotten behind on her rent. Friends knew about the impending eviction.
"She was really behind, but she didn't have it," Childs said, referring to money to pay the rent.
Court records show a judgment filed last month against the woman for $2,206 owed to the complex.
Blair's Facebook profile declared: "Loyal to my babies." One recent post was of the words: "There is no greater blessing than being called Mom."
"This is so tragic," said neighbor Tori Childs. "They were the nicest kids, so respectable."
It was not immediately known if the two surviving children, ages 11 and 17, were aware the bodies of their sister and brother were in the home. They were being questioned by police and social workers Tuesday, police said, and are in protective custody.
The children's frozen bodies were found around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday inside a townhouse at the Martin Luther King homes on the 800 block of St. Aubin by a crew from 36th District Court charged with evicting Blair for non-payment of rent. The bailiffs, whose job is to clear furniture out of the townhouse, first discovered the female child and dialed 911, police said. The boy's body was found later in the freezer, according to police.
Terrance West, a member of the eviction crew, said the freezer was next to the front door.
"Unfortunately, we see a lot of bad things on this job," he said.
Neighbor Shanetria Lanier, 21, said people in the apartment complex wondered what happened to the two children, who suddenly dropped out of sight about a year ago.
"When people asked her where her other two kids are, she said they were at their aunt's house," Lanier said. "Or sometimes she'd tell people they stayed inside because they didn't like to be around people."
Lanier added that Blair home-schooled her kids. "That's why no schools were wondering where they were," she said. An official with Detroit Public Schools said there was no record of the children attending classes in the district.
Childs said she saw the children's bodies inside the home Tuesday shortly after police arrived.
"When we walked past, we saw two bodies on the floor," said Childs, 33. "It was a little girl and a little boy. The little girl had on a pink jacket."
Childs said Blair told her, "I'm sorry" before police took her away in handcuffs.
Marlon Blair, Mitchelle's brother, said he was still processing the news.
"It's too early to even say what this could be, or to make any judgments," said Marlon Blair, who lives in California. "She didn't have any emotional problems from what I'm aware of. I don't know what to say about this."
After finding the bodies, officers quickly took the mother into custody as a person of interest, after another resident of the complex told police she was with a relative also living there, Police Chief James Caig said.
Craig confirmed Blair had two other children who lived in the home.
It is unclear where the surviving children were at the time of the eviction, he said.
Lanier said her sister received a call around 6 a.m. Tuesday from Blair.
"She said she was getting evicted and the Dumpsters were out front," Lanier said.
Lanier said the woman asked to stay at Lanier's sister's home with two of her children Tuesday, and was there when her children's bodies were found.
Craig said no weapons were found in the home.
A police source familiar with the investigation said Blair was cooperating with detectives.
Blair was sued by Martin Luther King Apartments for non-payment of rent six times going back to 2004. An eviction order was filed Feb. 11, and signed by District Judge Beatrice Pennie. On March 9, a judgment by consent was entered for the $2,354.50 she owed the complex.
In 1999, Blair filed a paternity suit in Wayne Circuit Court. The father was ordered to pay child support. She filed a second paternity suit against a different man in 2007, which also resulted in an order to pay child support
She had an outstanding arrest warrant from a December 2006 case in which she was driving an unregistered vehicle without insurance, court records show. After failing to pay the ticket, a warrant was issued in January 2007. The warrant was rescinded Tuesday.