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The Latest: Police Chief Angry No One Reported Girl Missing

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Posted at 10:18 PM, Oct 19, 2015
and last updated 2015-10-19 18:27:15-04

MIAMI (AP) - The latest on the case of a missing girl in Florida (all times local):

    

6:30 p.m.

    

The mother of a missing 11-year-old girl has been charged with aggravated child abuse.

    

Keishanna Thomas was charged Monday. The 31-year-old woman was initially booked into jail Friday after police say she refused to answer questions about her daughter's whereabouts.

    

Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski says a body was found inside a freezer in the garage of a grandmother of the missing girl, Janiya Thomas. Authorities say the body is likely that of Janiya, who hasn't been seen in months.

    

The girl's aunt and grandmother made the discovery. They told investigators Janiya's mother and an unidentified man dropped off the freezer Wednesday.

    

11:50 a.m.

    

A Florida police chief says he's "flabbergasted" that no one questioned the whereabouts of an 11-year-old girl who apparently had not been seen for more than a year.

    

A body believed to be Janiya Thomas was discovered inside a freezer at her grandmother's house near Bradenton on Sunday night.

    

Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski says the girl's 31-year-old mother, Keishanna Thomas, brought the freezer to the home Wednesday. Two days later, child protective services officials showed up at Thomas' apartment to check on her five children. They only found four. When Thomas refused to divulge Janiya's whereabouts, the judge ordered her held on contempt charges.

    

Radzilowski told The Associated Press he's angry that "a child could just disappear and no one asked nothing."

    

Police began searching for Janiya on Friday. Radzilowski says the grandmother and aunt opened the padlock on the freezer after hearing police were searching for her.

    

An attorney isn't listed for Thomas, who remained in jail early Monday.

    

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2:15 a.m.

    

Police believe they have found the body of a missing 11-year-old central Florida girl in a freezer.

    

Bradenton Police Chief Michael Radzilowski said during a news conference late Sunday that a body was found inside a freezer in the garage of a grandmother of the missing girl, Janiya Thomas. Authorities say the body is likely that of Janiya, who hasn't been seen in months.

    

The girl's aunt and grandmother made the discovery. They told investigators Janiya's mother and an unidentified man dropped off the freezer Wednesday.

    

The Bradenton Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1LZxjOr ) the women were unaware of its contents until they saw news reports about Janiya and checked inside.

    

Janiya's mother, 31-year-old Keishanna Thomas, was taken into custody Friday after police say she refused to answer questions about her daughter's whereabouts. It wasn't immediately clear whether she has an attorney.

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