WASHINGTON, Oct. 9, 2008

Cops: Dead Girls In Freezer Kin Of Suspect

2 Md. Girls Found Encased In Ice Are Adopted Daughters Of Woman Suspected Of Killing Them

    • Renee Bowman, 43, is seen in an undated handout photo released by the Calvert County, Md., Sheriff's Office

      Renee Bowman, 43, is seen in an undated handout photo released by the Calvert County, Md., Sheriff's Office  (AP/Calvert County Sheriffs Dept.)

    • A Montgomery County Homicide Detective walks in front of a house in Lusby, Md. on Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, where police discovered human remains in a basement freezer.

      A Montgomery County Homicide Detective walks in front of a house in Lusby, Md. on Monday, Sept. 29, 2008, where police discovered human remains in a basement freezer.  (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

    Previous slide Next slide
  • Play CBS Video Video 2 Dead Children Found In Freezer

    "CBS News RAW": Police say they have discovered two dead children in a basement freezer in Calvert County, Md., after a 7-year-old girl was found wandering the streets alone. The adoptive mother is under arrest.

  • Interactive Children In Danger

    Warning signs, state-by-state child services information and a history of child welfare reforms.

(AP)  Police in Maryland said Thursday they are confident that two girls found encased in ice in a basement freezer are the adopted daughters of a woman suspected of killing them.

Montgomery County police said they have tentatively identified the girls as Jasmine Nicole Bowman, who would have been 9, and Minnet Cecila Bowman, who would have been 11.

Police found the bodies last month in Renee Bowman's freezer in Lusby. They believe the children may have been dead since at least last November, when the family moved from Rockville, about 60 miles away in Montgomery County.

Bowman, 43, is a suspect but has not been charged in the girls' deaths. She is charged with abusing a third adopted daughter who was found alive.

The identification was made by detectives, who compared the bodies to a photograph of the girls that was found in Bowman's home and labeled by a family friend. The identification is considered tentative, but police say they don't expect autopsies to show anything different.

Dr. David Fowler, Maryland's chief medical examiner, said the photograph was not clear enough to identify the girls with absolute certainty.

"I think what we have is a good presumptive ID," he said. "The photographs do not exclude these two individuals, and they do look somewhat similar."

Fowler said his office is still hoping to confirm the identities through scientific means, such as fingerprints and dental work, but that is often difficult for children. The fact that they were adopted complicates DNA identification, he said.

Police said they still have not confirmed when, where and how the girls died. Autopsies have been performed, but Fowler said lab tests that could shed light both on the cause of death and the identities are expected to take several more weeks.

Investigators have said Bowman told them the remains are those of her daughters and that they died in Rockville. Police are trying to confirm where and when they were last seen alive. They have not found any record of the children being in school, police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said.

In addition to Rockville and Lusby, Bowman has lived in two other counties and Washington, D.C., police said.



© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 24 Comments
by runningralph October 12, 2008 1:08 PM EDT
The conditions that laed up to this atrocity were not created by African-Americans. They were created by liberal policies in the government. Welfare, WIC, foodstamps, Medicaid, were all created by the US taxpayers. These programs have caused a serious distortion in the natural evolvement of human society. These types of incidents are the repercussion.
Reply to this comment
by wl7bzh October 11, 2008 8:56 PM EDT
The black community is going to have to get together and stop this *** themselves. They have created a generation of people who have no responsibility to themselves, the community or even humanity for God sakes.
Posted by retmilspouse at 11:03 PM : Oct 09, 2008

And the ethnicity of the prison system is predominately what? Yea, I know, they''re in prison because they are the ones that are the victims.

Race, creed, color, religion and sexuality as an excuse for criminal behavior is wearing a little thin.
Reply to this comment
by airboatboy1 October 11, 2008 8:16 AM EDT
***. By the looks of her picture she looks like a beautiful, intelligent person. Who would of thought it?
Reply to this comment
by that-one-2009 October 10, 2008 4:05 PM EDT
Even if they were on ice the whole time wouldn''t they be just skeletons after a whole year???
Reply to this comment
by oleander8 October 10, 2008 2:01 PM EDT
"The roots of this atrocity are found in liberal policies that encourage women to practice indiscriminate breeding." Posted by runningralph

Are you also anti-abortion, and against *** education in our schools?
Reply to this comment
by oleander8 October 10, 2008 1:59 PM EDT
"There are plenty of people in the world who would have taken care of these girls!!"Posted by Jennmarikp

Unfortunately, no, there are not.
Reply to this comment
by jennmarikp October 10, 2008 1:36 PM EDT
What a terrible story. This woman needs to be punished. Why adopt children if you don''t want to take care of them? If she decided that she no longer wanted to take care of them why didn''t she contact someone? There are plenty of people in the world who would have taken care of these girls!!
Reply to this comment
by runningralph October 10, 2008 1:33 PM EDT
The roots of this atrocity are found in liberal policies that encourage women to practice indiscriminate breeding. If these children had parents who cared about them they would never have been put on the block for this murdering maniac in the first place. Liberal policies inevitably lead to disaster.
Reply to this comment
by kpnwknj October 10, 2008 12:49 PM EDT
What does race have to do with this? Why does race come up all the time? There are dead innocent children. I''ve seen cases with White people killing their own blood and I''d never judge them because they are White. It''s about the crime they''ve committed. I''ve seen child abuse cases with all races and mother''s killing their own. People STOP the race issue please.
Reply to this comment
by mswolfestock October 10, 2008 12:27 PM EDT
Maybe this sub-human life-form should be put in a freezer . . . . . . .

I''d buy the freezer (made in the USA, please) at Lowe''s or Sears - I''d volunteer to do it. We would be rid of this monster, saving taxpayer dollars - she does not deserve to be housed and fed in prison.
Reply to this comment
by slim1h2o October 10, 2008 9:43 AM EDT
What a sad and sick case. Well, one thing is for sure, we''ll see more and more of this ***** as the country sinks lower into this financial mess that we''re in right now.

C''mon people. if you issues of any kind, just off yourself, and leave the kids alone, they didn''t do anything wrong.

Reply to this comment
by themrswest October 10, 2008 6:08 AM EDT
Please forgive the triple post. I would delete them if I knew how to do it.
Reply to this comment
by themrswest October 10, 2008 5:57 AM EDT
Do not blame the Black community for this monstrous woman. There are monsters like her among all of the races.

Remember the white Texas mother who drowned all 5 of her children, Susan Smith who used the "black man killed my kids" defense, the Indian man who killed his entire family......I could go on and on.

There are monsters , both male and female, all colors, walking among us. Social agencies are going to have to do better at weeding out the bad parents, adoptive and natural. Even then some will slip through and more children will die at the hands of someone they thought they could depend on.
Reply to this comment
by themrswest October 10, 2008 5:56 AM EDT
Do not blame the Black community for this monstrous woman. There are monsters like her among all of the races.

Remember the white Texas mother who drowned all 5 of her children, Susan Smith who used the "black man killed my kids" defense, the Indian man who killed his entire family......I could go on and on.

There are monsters , both male and female, all colors, walking among us. Social agencies are going to have to do better at weeding out the bad parents, adoptive and natural. Even then some will slip through and more children will die at the hands of someone they thought they could depend on.
Reply to this comment
by themrswest October 10, 2008 5:55 AM EDT
Do not blame the Black community for this monstrous woman. There are monsters like her among all of the races.

Remember the white Texas mother who drowned all 5 of her children, Susan Smith who used the "black man killed my kids" defense, the Indian man who killed his entire family......I could go on and on.

There are monsters , both male and female, all colors, walking among us. Social agencies are going to have to do better at weeding out the bad parents, adoptive and natural. Even then some will slip through and more children will die at the hands of someone they thought they could depend on.
Reply to this comment
by creeper00 October 10, 2008 2:43 AM EDT
There is no punishment fit for this person.
Reply to this comment
by retmilspouse October 10, 2008 2:03 AM EDT
The black community is going to have to get together and stop this *** themselves. They have created a generation of people who have no responsibility to themselves, the community or even humanity for God sakes. It is all due to a gimmie attitude, that somehow society owes people like this crazy chick something because her ancestors were slaves either in this country or across the sea. Everybody in this great country has the same rights as anyone else to persue an education and create a great life for themselves. This is a total failure on the part of her community that let something tragic like this happen. There is a special level in he11 for her and I hope she gets their quick. Those poor babies, he11 is probably too good for her.
Reply to this comment
by squeakof2006 October 10, 2008 1:38 AM EDT
And one still remains. You have to wonder what the 3rd child will turn out to be like? The woman who signed the papers to become her guardian should be held accountable for that. Punish her greatly. Slow, painful execution should be in order here!
Reply to this comment
by legacyabq October 10, 2008 12:40 AM EDT
Jeeze was she up for a week smoking crack before they shot this picture?
She looks monstrous.
Reply to this comment
by swingset4u October 10, 2008 12:04 AM EDT
She needs to be sent to a deserted island and left to die.
Posted by hmkach

Why give this piece of trash a vacation???
Reply to this comment
See all 24 Comments
  • MOST POPULAR
Discussed
  1. Sarah Palin's Book: The Fact Check

    (378 recent comments)

Exclusive Webshow

Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie." Watch Now

Latest News
News in Pictures
Scroll Left Scroll Right
Connect with CBS News

Stay connected with the CBS News using your favorite social networks and online news applications: