11-year-old girl 'found stuffed in a freezer'

Janiya Thomas was missing over a year and no one asked why

When authorities from the Manatee Country's Child Protective Investigations unit arrived at Keishanna Thomas' apartment in Bradenton to remove her five children, they only found four. Eleven-year-old Janiya Thomas was reported missing on Friday, but authorities believe she could have been missing for up to a year.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - An affidavit in Janiya's case shows the girl's siblings saying they went to school one day and never saw her again. Keishanna Thomas, 31, refuses to disclose the whereabouts of Janiya and is currently in jail on contempt and child abuse charges.

The Bradenton Herald reported a heavily redacted affidavit describing comments made by three of Thomas' children when they were interviewed by investigators.

One of the children said Janiya had bladder problems and was punished when she soiled herself with week-long stays in the bathroom. The boy claimed his mother slept in the front room just in case Janiya attempted to sneak out of the restroom at night. 

Another child said Thomas used a belt and punched Janiya.

Dave Bristow, Manatee County Sheriff's spokesman, said there have been ten reports since 2003 involving the Thomas family. Manatee County's Child Protective Investigations Unit authorities initially discovered Janiya missing when they responded to alleged abuse of Thomas' 12-year-old son. They arrived at the family's home, intent on removing all five of Thomas' children, and were startled to only discover four.

Police immediately began a search for Janiya and two days later, Janiya's aunt and grandmother called to report the discovery of the girl's body in the padlocked freezer Thomas and an unknown black man moved into their home on Wednesday. Neither woman had thought to look in the freezer until they heard reports that Janiya was missing.

Though the medical examiner's office has yet to confirm, police believe the body belongs to Janiya. Brandenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski believes the body in the freezer belongs to Janiya. "I'm really upset that we let this child down," he lamented.

Radzilowski couldn't believe "a child could just disappear and no one asked nothing." During Thomas' previous investigations by child protective services, she always had an excuse for why Janiya was not present.

Bradenton Police Department spokesman Lt. James Racky said, "Nobody told us until Friday night. Her mother pulled her out of school because of her medical condition ...  and said she was home-schooling her in 2013."

Janiya had a digestive condition, Racky said. "She could not always tell when she had to go to the bathroom. That's one of the reasons the mother was frustrated with the child and kept the child in the bathroom at her residence. That medical condition is the same one that killed Janiya's father"

Thomas appeared before Circuit Judge Diana Moreland on Tuesday morning, where Assistant Public Defender Franklin Roberts said Thomas was "not going to be making any statements at all."

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