I can't fathom what it takes to do this to a child.
LinkNavy Wife Accused Of Storing Dead Baby's Body In Garbage Bag
POSTED: 5:00 pm PST December 13, 2005
UPDATED: 9:23 am PST December 14, 2005
PORT ORCHARD, Wash. -- A 21-year-old Navy wife accused of fatally neglecting her 18-month-old daughter, then storing her body for weeks in a garbage bag, was being held on $500,000 bail.
Richeal M. Rhoades was arrested Monday for investigation of manslaughter and booked into the Kitsap County jail. Prosecutors said charges would likely be filed Thursday and could include second-degree murder, manslaughter or criminal mistreatment.
The woman moved to the Jackson Park Naval Housing Area in Bremerton in August as her sailor husband Michael Rhoades prepared to leave from Kings Bay, Ga., aboard the USS Maine, a Trident submarine that was reassigned to a base at Bangor, near Bremerton.
According to documents filed in Kitsap County Superior Court, she waived her rights and made a statement to Naval Criminal Investigative Service officers. She described a steadily worsening depression, which led her to do the bare minimum for her two children, 18-month-old Brenda and Michael, age 3. She described letting the little boy make his own snacks and get his own water by climbing a step stool to reach the kitchen sink.
Eventually, according to court papers, the woman said she was giving Brenda only about 3 eight-ounce bottles of milk per day, with no solid food, and changing her diaper only once a day.
A week before Thanksgiving, the woman said, she left the window open all night in the little girl's room to air out the stench of dirty diapers, then found the child had a 102-degree temperature the next day.
She told investigators she found Brenda dead in her room after leaving the baby alone for 40 to 44 hours. She estimated that was a few days before Thanksgiving, according to court papers. She told investigators she ate Thanksgiving Dinner with neighbors, telling them Brenda was sick and staying with friends.
Instead of reporting the death, she put the child's body in a black plastic garbage bag, along with some dirty diapers, and left it in the child's bedroom until last Friday. Realizing her husband would be arriving soon, she put the bagged body into a box and taped it shut, setting it on the porch.
Her husband's submarine arrived Sunday at Bangor, and he apparently learned of the baby's death that night, although authorities weren't notified until Monday, the papers said.
An autopsy has been completed, but no results were released Tuesday.
The 3-year-old boy was placed in protective custody.
"This is sad," Navy spokesman Tom Danaher said. "It's a serious concern of ours and we're -- we're perplexed."