WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bodies of four youths who had been dead at least two weeks were found Wednesday inside an apartment where authorities had tried last year to investigate concerns about the family who lived there.
U.S. Marshals serving an eviction notice on the property in Southeast Washington found the decomposing bodies on the second floor of the small, two-story brick building about 10 a.m., after a routine search, U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Cole Barnhart said.
A woman who answered the door was taken into police custody for questioning.
"She was apparently calm throughout," Barnhart said.
District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty said he was told by the medical examiner that the youths had been dead at least two weeks. The bodies were so badly decomposed they could not be positively identified, he said. "It is going to take scientific tests run by the chief medical examiner's office," Fenty said.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the bodies appeared to be of juveniles ranging in age from 5 to 18. Authorities were investigating how and when they died.
"It's hard for us to say, and hard for the medical to say right now, how long these bodies have been in there," Lanier said.
Police said they would not rule the case a homicide until the medical examiner determined the cause of death. Lanier said there were no signs of forced entry into the home.
Authorities did not release the name of the woman being questioned. It was not clear if she was related to the four victims, Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes said.
Mindy Good, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Child and Family Services agency, said it had received one report about a family at that address in April through the city's child abuse and neglect reporting hot line.
"We made several attempts to make contact with these people. We were unable to have any face-to-face contact with them," Good said. "On the last attempt (in early May), it appeared they were no longer living at the address."
http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/H...Y&pageId=1.1.1
there is sooo much more than is being told...no one knew this family at all...and these 4 gilrs just.....died
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