Just when you thought an already horrible story couldn’t get any more horrible, it goes and gets more horrible.

According to police records, the Detroit mother whose two children were found dead in a deep freezer forced one of her kids to help her commit the heinous act.

35-year-old Mitchelle Blair was arrested Tuesday (Mar 24) after the frozen bodies of her daughter and son were discovered in a freezer inside the family’s three-bedroom townhome.

The mother of four was arraigned on child abuse charges Thursday and is being held on a $1 million cash bond.

The two children found in the freezer were identified as Stoni Ann Blair and Stephen Gage Berry, who were believed to be 13 and 9 years old, respectively, at the time of their deaths. If they were alive today, Stoni would be 15 and Stephen would have been 11.

A petition filed in Wayne County Juvenile Court details the severe abuse that Blair put all four of her children through, which eventually led up to Stephen and Stoni’s deaths.

The causes of their deaths — which could lead to murder charges for Blair — aren’t yet known because the coroner is waiting for their frozen bodies to thaw naturally before performing autopsies.

From USA Today:

The petition, which includes information from interviews with both surviving children, alleges that Blair, 35, tortured Stephen in the two weeks before his death by tying a belt around his neck, scalding him with hot water and putting a plastic bag over his head.

On Aug. 30, 2012, when Stephen, then age 9, was found unresponsive, Blair wrapped his body in a bed linen and placed him in the freezer. About nine months after Stephen was killed, Stoni suffered the same fate – being killed and stuffed in the freezer.

Blair is accused of burning Stoni with a clothing iron, hitting her with a 2-by-4 and striking her with a hot curling iron, causing one of her front teeth to break. “Her mother refused to provide her with medical treatment,” the petition alleges.

Stoni died on May 25, 2013, after an enraged Blair allegedly “strangled Stoni with a black T-shirt and suffocated her with a plastic bag.” After the then 13-year-old died, Blair is accused of then making her older daughter “put Stoni in the deep freezer.”

Stephen and Stoni’s bodies were found Tuesday by court officials who were working to evict Blair from the apartment for failing to pay her rent.

While Blair was being arrested, she reportedly said: “They’re both dead. I did it.” She said she killed her children because she believed they had sexually assaulted their younger brother, though there was nothing to indicate the child had been sexually assaulted.

Meanwhile, the state wants to terminate the parental rights of the fathers of Blair’s two surviving children, who are now in the custody of a family member — their maternal great aunt Angela Gordon, a retired Detroit police child abuse investigator.

The fathers hadn’t seen their children in years and both owe thousands in child support.

Alexander Dorsey — Stoni’s father, as well as the father of Blair’s 17-year-old daughter — owes $39,000. Stephen Berry — Stephen’s father, and the father of Blair’s 8-year-old son — owes over $12,000.

The petition states that each father “failed to protect his children from an unfit home environment where the children were physically abused, tortured and murdered.”

Dorsey said he last saw his children about two years ago, and Berry said he hasn’t seen his kids since April 2012.

Both fathers told the court that Blair prevented them from seeing their children, and when they would ask her about their whereabouts, she would tell them that they were visiting their great aunt Angela Gordon.

The two surviving children also allegedly suffered abuse, according to the petition, which stated that the 8-year-old had 25 scars and injuries on his back “both old and new, as a result of physical abuse by Mitchelle Blair,” in addition to “numerous loop-shaped scars and injuries” on his body, which were believed to be “consistent with Mitchelle Blair using an extension cord” to physically abuse her children.

Medical personnel reportedly saw a scar over the left eye of the 17-year-old, and the petition stated that the teen “has also been beaten with a cord and burned with a clothing iron and has burns on her body that are consistent with that of a clothing iron.”

The 8-year-old also reportedly told officials that “he knew his sister and brother were killed and subsequently placed in the freezer.”

A Detroit mother was arrested Tuesday (Mar 24) after the frozen bodies of her son and daughter were found in a deep freezer inside the family’s three-bedroom townhome.

The bodies of Stoni Ann Blair and Stephen Gage Berry were discovered by court officers carrying out an eviction order at the home where 35-year-old Mitchelle Blair lived with her four children.

Police said the body of one the children had been in the freezer for at least two years, and they believe other was placed in the freezer about a year ago.

The children were believed to be aged 13 and 9 years old, respectively, at the time of their deaths. If they were alive today, Stoni would be 15 and Stephen would have been 11.

The two surviving children, a 17-year-old girl and 8-year-old boy, were placed in protective custody.

Neighbors said they hadn’t seen the dead children in nearly a year. “I haven’t seen them since they were playing with my step-kids,” friend of the family Tori Childs said.

Childs’ mother Carrie McDonald — who also lives in the apartment complex — said that she had spoken with Blair right before the gruesome discovery.

“She told me this morning, ‘Ms. Carrie, if you don’t never see me again just know that I love you,’” McDonald said. “I love her. The mother is a beautiful person. She was just going through some things.”

Blair had lived in the complex for the past 10 years, but was struggling financially. According to court records, she owed over $2,000 in rent prior to the eviction. “She was really behind, but she didn’t have it,” Childs said.

Blair wasn’t home when police arrived to carry out the eviction order, but neighbors were able to help them track her down at a nearby apartment.

“One of the community members here … approached our officers and advised that they knew where the parent was located,” Detroit Police Chief James Craig said.

Friends of Blair say that she homeschooled her children after taking them out of the Detroit school system “because she thought something was going to happen to them.”

The state wasn’t notified that Blair’s children were being homeschooled this year, Education Department spokesman Bill Disessa said.

According to sources, Blair confessed to killing Stephen in May 2012 by strangling him, ABC affiliate WXYZ reported. Blair also reportedly confessed to torturing Stoni and killing her nine months later.

Blair told police that she had caught Stephen sexually assaulting her youngest son, and she later discovered that Stoni was continuing to molest the boy, however there was no evidence of sexual assault.

Investigators said both bodies showed signs of torture, though an exact cause of death for either child hasn’t yet been determined, pending an autopsy, which can’t be performed until the bodies thaw out completely.

“The bodies are still frozen, so the autopsies are tentatively scheduled for tomorrow,” Ryan Bridges, a spokesman for the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s office said Wednesday, according to the Detroit Free Press.

“Autopsies can’t be completed while the bodies are still frozen. We monitor the thawing process while allowing them to thaw naturally so any potential evidence can be preserved.”

If the children died shortly before they were shoved in the deep freezer, any signs of injury or trauma to their bodies will likely be preserved.

“If they were in any way harmed, like injured, you would probably find that,” said Dr. Werner Spitz, a forensic pathologist and former chief Wayne County medical examiner who isn’t involved with this case.

In a press conference Wednesday, Police Chief Craig told asked for privacy for the two children who were taken into protective custody.

“While we all understand the desire to know what happened in that home is strong, I will ask you to be mindful of the two children who were also in that home and are still living,” Craig told reporters. “They’ve been through a lot, a tremendous trauma.”

Mitchelle Blair, who is being held on a $1 million bail, has been charged with five counts of first-degree child abuse, one of which could land her behind bars for the rest of her life, and she could face even more charges after the autopsies are complete.