Brother, Sister Among Those Questioned in Discovery of Infant Remains
The remains of a third infant were found nearby one year ago.
Aug. 25, 2009— -- It was a gruesome discovery -- the skeletal remains of two infants shoved under a mobile home in a rugged, rural area near Fort Worth, Texas.
Authorities are now trying to find out not only how they got there, but when. Given the size of the bones, they are also unsure of the children's ages, saying they could be anything from miscarried or aborted fetuses to young babies born alive.
The findings were eerily similar to infant remains that were found nearby last year, but remain unidentified.
There have been no children of that size reported missing in the area, Tarrant County Sheriff's Office spokesman TerryGrisham said.
Grisham told ABCNews.com today that investigators have interviewed the mobile home's last known residents, a brother and sister who lived in the rental property for the last three or more years, but had since moved out.
It was the owner's son, Justin Southern, that found the remains on Sunday.
He told the Associated Press that he noticed the containers while cleaning on the property, owned by his father, Rex Southern. He said he immediately thought of the remains his father found on the property last year.
"That thought just flashed in my head, and I thought, 'Surely Lord, no — please' and I jerked that trash bag open," Southern said. "It's overwhelming. It's sad someone could even think about doing that to a baby."
So far, he said, the two have been cooperative, but "it's hard to say" whether they were involved with the infants' bodies.
"They said they knew nothing of it," Grisham said.
If the medical examiner is able to determine how long the bodies had been under the home, he said that may be true. DNA samples will be taken from the remains, Grisham said, and both the brother and the sister have agreed to submit samples.
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