Woman Murders Two of Her Kids

Detroit woman Mitchelle Blair could not hold down a job, so she struggled with finances as a single mother of four children. She often called upon relatives and friends for help covering her rent or to help put food on the table. Going without never seemed to bother Mitchelle, which probably didn’t, considering she abused the children before murdering two of them.

When the kids -Stoni, Stephen, Gabrielle, and Matthew- misbehaved, Mitchelle inflicted horrific punishments on them. Kids will be kids but Mitchelle did not see things that way. Even ordinary mistakes went seriously punished in the Blair household.

One day, Mitchelle caught Matthew inappropriately playing with dolls. She would later tell police that Stephen confessed to her then and there that he had been raping his brother.

Mitchelle had been sexually abused as a child, a lifelong trauma she never discussed with friends or relatives, nor did she seek professional treatment to recover from the horror. Recovering from sexual abuse with treatment is hard. Imagine how scarred Mitchelle had to be without any treatment.

She decided 9-year-old Stephen needed to be punished. For the next week, Mitchelle beat the boy relentlessly with any object she could get her hands on -sticks, shoes, books, and more -and scaled his body with hot water while forcing him to stand naked in the shower. This led to the boy’s horrific death.

After killing Stephen, Mitchelle disposed of his body in a deep freeze.

“I went upstairs and I said, Stephen, Matthew said you were humping on him. He stood up and looked at me like he had lost his mind. He said yes…So I started punching Stephen… I put a bag over his head, he lost consciousness, I did that a couple of times….” —Mitchelle

Stoni had also been sexually abusing Matthew, Mitchelle claims she learned nine months after she beat Stephen to death. Matthew also confessed that Stoni would squeeze blood out of her menstrual pad and place it into his mouth.

Mitchelle said that before she abused Matthew, Stoni had also sexually abused Stephen, causing him to molest Matthew as well. She described the 13-year-old teenager as “the devil.”

She again decided to beat the child as a way to punish her for hurting Matthew. She poured scalding hot water on her body, beat her with her hands and various objects, and eventually strangled her to death.

After murdering Stoni, Mitchelle asked her daughter Gabrielle to place the body in the freezer on top of Stephen’s body.

Confession to Stoni’s murder:

“She raped my son. I intentionally killed her. When I found out what Stoni was doing to Matthew it was nine months later after I found out about Stephen. So, for the whole nine months that we were in the house, she was still raping my child. I did not know that.

When I first found out, I repeatedly punched her. On many occasions. I punched her, put a bag over her head till she lost consciousness, I threw hot water on her, I hit her on her head multiple times, over and over….” —Mitchelle Blair

The bodies were discovered by a county sheriff who went to the home to serve an eviction notice. Mitchelle, who was at the neighbor’s house at the time of police arrival, was arrested and taken into police custody. She made a full confession to the murders, telling the court that Stoni and Stephen had raped her younger son. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on each conviction.

Since her incarceration, Mitchelle has consistently caused problems, incurring more than 50 disciplinary actions during this time. Incidents include kicking an officer who had attempted to intervene between an altercation with Mitchelle and another inmate as well as an incident involving her throwing feces and urines on a correctional officer.

Where are the Kids Now?

The youngest child was 10-years-old when the incident happened. He was sent to live with a maternal aunt and uncle who eventually adopted him. The oldest child graduated high school at age 19 years and went on to college to earn a degree. Considering the circumstances, Judge Edward Joseph who presided over the case, said the children are doing remarkably well.

More Info

https://www.freep.com/picture-gallery/news/local/michigan/detroit/2015/06/05/photographic-evidence-in-freezer-case/28568123/