Missing Ala. Girl's Body Believed Found, Stepmother Heather Leavell-Keaton Extradited
MOBILE, Ala. (CBS/AP) Searchers discovered human remains Saturday in the woods off a deserted Alabama road believed to be Natalie DeBlase, the 5-year-old daughter of a man already charged with murdering her and her younger brother, police said.
Police said search teams uncovered the remains near a county road in Citronelle, about 30 miles north of Mobile. Investigators believe the remains are those of Natalie, who would have turned 5 in late November. Skeletal remains found last Wednesday in the woods of rural Mississippi are believed to be those of her 3-year-old brother, Chase.
The children's father, 27-year-old John DeBlase, is charged with two counts of felony murder and two counts of corpse abuse after he told authorities that he dumped his 5-year-old daughter Natalie in the woods north of Mobile in March and discarded 3-year-old Chase's body, dressed in only a diaper and stuffed into a plastic garbage bag, in Mississippi in June.
Police have said Heather Leavell-Keaton, DeBlase's common-law wife who's accused of torturing Chase and Natalie, is also responsible for the killings. She was extradited from Kentucky and booked into an Alabama jail early Monday, held without bail.
Leavell-Keaton has been charged with child abuse, but not with the deaths.
However, Mobile County Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphee said Friday that authorities would soon upgrade Leavell-Keaton's charges from child abuse to more serious aggravated child abuse counts. She was also to be charged with two counts of corpse abuse, according to authorities.
According to arrest warrants in the case, between March 1 and November 19, 2010, DeBlase allowed Leavell-Keaton to bind the girl's hands and feet with duct tape, put a sock in her mouth and stuff her in a suitcase in a closet for about 14 hours, reports CBS affiliate WKRG.
The warrants also detail how Leavell-Keaton duct-taped the young boy's hands to the side of his legs, strapped a broom handle to his back and shoved a sock in his mouth. The boy was then forced to stand in a corner all night while the adults went to bed.
DeBlase's court-appointed attorney, Jim Sears, has said DeBlase maintains his innocence and claims that Leavell-Keaton killed the children. She has accused DeBlase for the deaths.
Attorneys for DeBlase have said he will plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Sears said Friday that comments made by friends that called into question DeBlase's mental health are "certainly not without reason."
COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE DEBLASE CHILDREN'S CASE ON CRIMESIDER