Child Welfare Checks Preceded Deaths of 2 Kids

Hunstman was uncooperative, The Plumas County News reports, but Curiel allegedly pointed authorities to the Redding storage unit, where that evening investigators discovered plastic containers where the bodies of two children who matched the informant’s general descriptions were found.

Police in the Northern California city of Redding, where the bodies of a boy and a girl were found inside a storage unit, said Wednesday the children died somewhere else and that police in Salinas, where the children had lived until recently, will lead the investigation.

Homicide detectives were investigating, and autopsies were planned for Wednesday. Authorities have not said whether they were related to Huntsman or Curiel.

The department also said it has identified two children who were in the pair’s physical custody and who are missing.

Redding is about 140 miles northwest of Quincy.

After two children, 6 and 3, were found dead in a storage unit in Northern California on Sunday, the victims’ half-sister said she had grave concerns about the children’s guardian and wanted to have the kids removed from her custody. No charges have been filed in their deaths.

The investigation, which stretches across several counties, began Friday with a call about a possible child abuse case in Quincy, where authorities found the starving 9-year-old at a house, according to a news release from the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office.

Plumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood told the Sacramento Bee that some officials were so shaken by the abuse endured by the girl that they might have to take time off to recover.

“This investigation has had a profound impact on anyone who came in contact with it”, Hagwood said. Huntsman is reportedly the biological mother of the twins and aunt to the 9-year-old girl. “Anyone not changed needs to get some help”.

Huntsman and her apparent companion, Curiel are in jail with bail set at $1 million.

According to the Sacramento Bee, Huntsman has a history of alleged child abuse and other felonies dating back to the 1990s. They were both arrested Friday on abuse allegations related to a 9-year-old girl in Quincy.

On Sunday, Redding officers acted on a tip from another police department, went to the AAA Enterprise Store-All and found a locked unit, police said.

Plumas County sheriff’s deputies arrested Huntsman and Curiel on December 11 after finding the 9-year-old in a vehicle.

They were sickened by what they found when Plumas County child protective services representatives arrived at the address.

Investigators could not establish that Tami Joy Huntsman, 39, was enough of a risk to the children in her care in order to remove them from the apartment in Salinas, Monterey County Department of Social Services head Elliot Robinson told the San Francisco Chronicle. She was rushed to a hospital for treatment, while two older children – a 12-year-old boy and female twins – who were also at the Quincy residence were placed in foster care, Puma County News reported. He declined to comment further.