Latanisha Carmichael.

In 1984, a 9-year-old boy named Andre Charmichael spends a day at a park with his Aunt, Justice Feldman. Being out of his 700-square-foot home was rare, as his mother would not allow him or his older sister, Sabrina Charmichael, out of their home when they left school.

The siblings weren't allowed to have any friends.

The siblings weren't allowed to see other relatives.

But in the early '80s, their Aunt Justice asked her sister, Madeline Charmichael, if she could take her nephew out. Sabrina was at school. Surprisingly, Madeline said yes. Justice stole her nephew for the day, taking him for ice cream and to the park. To say that the breath of fresh air was an understatement for Andre. A simple push on the swing was more than just an average gesture for him. It was a treat. While enjoying his outing, his aunt asks him a question that would set off not only a chain of events, but memories.

"Where's your sister?" Justice asks, sitting on the swing beside him.

"Sabrina?" Andre replies.

"Not Sabrina, your twin-sister?"

Andre has no knowledge of who Aunt Justice is talking about.

"I don't have a twin?"

Andre's aunt seemingly lets the conversation go, but he doesn't. Returning home, Andre asks his mother if he has a twin sister. His mother's response?

A beating.

This isn't the first. From early childhood, Andre and his oldest sister endured beatings from their mother and oldest brother, 19-year-old Gregory, for seemingly nothing, as Andre stated. Simply doing things like moving something out of place, making a noise that their mother didn't like, and/or saying anything slightly wrong warranted a beating from their mother Madeline, who controlled her home with her literal fists. After one of the many beatings, Andre decides to let the question go. However, his aunts' question has unlocked memories Andre didn't know he had. While sleeping, he dreams of him sharing a crib with a baby girl. Sharing bottles. Toys. As a young kid, however, he chalks these dreams up as dreams and nothing more.

As the beatings increase, social services intervene. Sabrina is removed from Foster care, and Andre is removed months later.

10 years later, after spending his early through late teens being shipped from home to home through the Foster Care system, a 22-year-old Andre marries a woman he meets in his city. After having a baby girl of his own, he surprisingly begins to think of his mother. Despite the abuse, he has a soft spot for her and decides that he should introduce his baby girl to her. Andre receives the opposite response he desired.

“Don’t bring her over here anymore!” Madeline demands after only one visit.

It is later told through Sabrina that their mother stated that Andre’s daughter brought back too many bad memories for her. “She resembles someone,” Madeline said. The now 15-year-old question is revived in Andre’s mind. “Do I have a twin sister?” This time, Andre finally receives an answer.

“Yes,” Sabrina sighed.

A flood of questions billowed from Andre’s mouth, but one stood out more than the others. “Where is she?” Then, a bombshell from Sabrina.

“She’s dead.”

Sabrina then tells the memory that she’s kept to herself since childhood. A memory she did not want to relive. 20-years-prior, in November 1979, an 8-year-old Sabrina sat in the kitchen of her mothers' apartment, eating breakfast while her mother fed her 3-year-old sister, Latanisha, oatmeal. During the meal, the young girl became ill and threw up all over their small kitchen floor.

This sent Madeline into a rage.

Furious, Madeline snatches her daughter out of the chair and began beating the young girl. Their brother Gregory, angry that he had to clean up the mess, took part in the beating as well. A helpless Sabrina watched as her mother and brother beat her baby sister so violently that when they were finished, she could only state that the young girl was “unconscious”. As Madeline and her brother tried to perform CPR, both realized there was no use. Latanisha was no longer moving or breathing. Realizing what they had done, Sabrina watched as Madeline and Gregory took a chest from out of her closet, placed Latanisha inside, wrap the box in plastic, then moved her body into the closet, nailing it shut and closing it off.

For Andre, it explained everything.

It explained the unexplained beating when asked about Latanisha.

It explained why there were always incense sticks surrounded by the closet.

It explained the baking soda.

It explained why whenever Andre got too close to the closet, his mother would beat him for what he thought was no reason at all. After Sabrina’s confession, she makes Andre promise not to tell the authorities about it. Andre agrees, but quickly breaks his promise. He felt that his Twin Sister, Latanisha, deserved justice.

After telling police, investigators look into the sibling's claims to make sure this isn’t a hoax or a sick joke. Going back, police find medical records of not just Andre born in 1976, but his twin sister, Latanisha, born on the same day. Doing more digging, police find childhood medical and school records for Andre.

But there was nothing for Latanisha since November of 1979. No medical or school records, use of social security number, driver's licenses, nothing. Authorities knew that the little girl was dead, but figured that Madeline had long since taken the body of the little girl out of the apartment. Visiting Madeline Carmichael, investigators tell the mother, “We’re looking for one of your children.” Madeline responds, “All of my children are grown and have left the house.”

“We’re looking for Latanisha,” The investigator states.

“Latanisha has moved out of town. I haven’t seen her in 23 years.”

Investigators aren’t buying it. Making their way back to the closet, they notice that it's been closed off, just as Andre had mentioned. Madeline tries to intervene by grabbing the investigator, but this time, she had no control over her situation. Breaking down the closet door, they find the same chest that Sabrina had mentioned.

Inside, are the remains of a little girl.

Madeline Charmichael had lived in the same apartment with her dead 3-year-old daughter, in the closet beside her bedroom for more than TWENTY years. Madeline ate, showered, watched television, and did daily activities with her dead toddler in the closet. There was no way you could argue insanity for her case. Madeline knew what she had done. She put up incense sticks and baking soda boxes around to mask the smell of her decomposing daughter that laid beside her every night.

Madeline Carmichael and her son, Gregory, were both sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the murder of Latanisha Charmichael. Madeline only served two years in jail before dying of cancer. Thanks to a set of siblings that refused to let their sister's name fade away. The opened chest placed in front of the courtroom was not just a decomposing smell that held mummified remains, it was a little girl. A girl named Latanisha, who like her twin brother, should’ve had a life. It's not only sad, but it's somewhat fascinating how people can murder other people and keep their bodies entombed in the home that they reside in. (Another case for example, the Reyna Angelica Marraquin case. An immigrant woman, working at a factory, who had an affair with her boss. When she became pregnant, her boss murdered her and stored her body in a toxic waste bin in the crawl space of their home for 30 years.) How do people eat, sleep, and carry out their daily lives knowing that they have a human body in their home? Knowing that there's loved ones looking for the missing person that they've murdered?

If you're a crime junkie like me, you can read and/or watch this story with the links below: