The Misery Machine - Mitchelle Blair: Who Tortures and Locks Their Kids in a Freezer?

Episode Date: December 5, 2021

This week, Drewby & Yergy travel to Detroit to discuss the chilling case of Mitchelle Blair, a mother of 4 who shook the Motor City after the bodies of two of her children were found locked in a chest freezer in her living room during a routine eviction - which turned into anything but routine.  Levi's Fundraising Page: https://gofund.me/6b9e4f07 Support Our Patreon For More Unreleased Content: https://www.patreon.com/themiserymachine Join Our Facebook Group to Request a Topic: https://t.co/DeSZIIMgXs?amp=1 PayPal: https://www.paypal.me/themiserymachine Instagram: miserymachinepodcast Twitter: misery_podcast Discord: https://discord.gg/kCCzjZM #themiserymachine #podcast #truecrime Source Material: https://allthatsinteresting.com/mitchelle-blair https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/detroit-city/2015/03/26/mom-scalded-son-strangled-daughter-froze-bodies-detroit-report-says/70489682/ https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/detroit-mom-mitchelle-blair-gets-life-sentence-putting-children-freezer-n393781 https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2017/03/23/2-years-later-siblings-kids-killed-by-mother/99542748/ https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/the-kids-sexually-abused-each-other-their-mom-killed-them-as-punishment-87c8bb653795 https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/2015/03/surviving_children_say_detroit.html https://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/rochelle-riley/2015/04/02/teacher-tried-save-kid-killed-placed-freezer/70866054/  

In 2015, 35-year-old Michelle Blair was living in apartment number 804 of the Martin Luther King apartment complex on the east side of Detroit with her four children when she was evicted for not paying rent. Friends and relatives say she was unable to keep a job and would always call them for money. Those loved ones advised her to get a job and go back to school, opting for a more tough love approach. Others pointed her in the direction of social services. However, Michelle Blair disregarded their advice, and on the morning of March 24, 2015, she was indeed served with that eviction notice. But Michelle wasn't home, and a crew from the 36th District Court gained access to the inside of her apartment and began removing her furniture. The apartment was trashed, with garbage and food waste tossed about in every room. Aside from the squalor, this wasn't going to be any routine

eviction, and the crew was not prepared for what they would find next. Inside a white chest freezer, located in the living room, was the frozen body of a teenage girl wrapped in a large plastic bag, and underneath her, the body of a young boy. Police managed to find Michel at a neighbor's house with her two children, eight-year-old Matthew, and 17-year-old Gabrielle. But her other children, nine-year-old Stephen and 13-year-old Stoney were missing. After some brief questioning regarding the frozen remains found in her apartment, Michelle Blair was arrested for murder. At her arraignment, Blair was charged on four counts of first-degree child abuse, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, and one count of

committing child-abuse first-degree in the presence of another child, which is a felony punishable up to life in prison. Bond was set at $1 million. Authorities took the bodies of the two children, children to the morgue so an autopsy could be performed. However, it took three solid days for their bodies to thaw. The bodies were identified as Blair's missing children, Stephen Gage Berry, and Stony Ann Blair. The medical examiner ruled their deaths homicides and determined that they had been in the freezer for at least a couple of years. According to the medical examiner, both children had been slapped in the face, had chip teeth, and had actual tears in the mucus membranes of their lips. Stony's body bore evidence of branding on her skin. Additionally,

her entire scalp was full of hemorrhages, meaning she had received numerous impacts over the head before her death. Michelle Blair confessed the murders at the Wayne County Circuit Court. She stated that she killed her demons after finding out they were raping her youngest son, a claim that has never been substantiated. Blair told the judge that she did not feel any remorse over her actions. She claimed that Stephen and Stoney had no remorse for what they did to Matthew and that there was no other option. She went on to state that there was no excuse for rape and that she would kill her two children all over again. One day, Blair allegedly came home and found her youngest son, 8-year-old Matthew, putting his dolls in inappropriate positions. When she questioned Matthew,

he confided in her that his elder brother, 9-year-old Stephen, had been raping him. After she was told this, Blair began to severely beat and torture Stephen. Blair stated that she repeatedly poured scalding hot water on his genitals, causing his skin to peel off. She later made Stephen drink Windex and wrapped a

belt around her son's neck, lifted him up and asked, do you like how this feels? After two weeks of torture, Stephen finally succumbed to his injuries on August 30th, 2012. Michelle Blair put his body in her deep freezer. According to

Michelle's recorded confession, quote, 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, end quote. After nine months, Blair also discovered that Stony was allegedly abusing Matthew. Matthew alleged that Stony would squeeze blood out of her menstrual pad into his mouth. In addition to sexually assaulting him. Upon learning of this, Blair repeated the torture routine on her daughter until her death. For days, Blair beat Stony, starved her, threw hot water on her naked body, and finally strangled her

with a black t-shirt and suffocated her with a garbage bag until she died on May 25th of 2013. Blair claimed that she was going to turn herself into police, but when Matthew told her that he didn't want her to go to jail, she made her oldest daughter, Gabrielle, put Stony's body. into the freezer. According to Michelle's recorded confession, quote, she raped my son. I intentionally killed her. When I found out what Stony 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, end quote. Blair also claimed that Stony was sexually abusing Stephen way before she started abusing Matthew, quote, she, referring to Stoney, started telling me many things. And I also asked her, then why didn't Stephen tell me when I asked him, did anybody do this to him? Why didn't he tell me that you were doing it to him? Because Stoney was going upstairs, beating Stephen, threatening him if he talked, end quote. The family continued living in the home as if nothing were amiss. Stephen Gage Berry and Stony and Blair were in the deep freezer for almost three years, and nobody looked for them.

They had absentee fathers, and Blair had previously taken them out of school. She told school officials that she was going to teach them at home. When neighbors asked about the children's whereabouts, she always had an excuse. After Blair killed her children, she continued to receive welfare benefits, receiving 770s. $71 a month in food assistance and Medicaid. State Child Protective Services workers had contact with Blair in September of 2002 and February 2005 after allegations of abuse had surfaced. Even though the abuse was substantiated, she still was allowed to retain custody of her children, and it was unclear whether any action was

taken place after the abuse was determined. After the February 2005, Child Protective Services complaint. Blair was referred for services through families first, CBC counseling services, Eastwood Clinic for Psychological Evaluation, and Work First. It was never followed up on whether she received services from these referrals or not. When doctors examined the two surviving children, Gabrielle and Matthew, they found them covered with welts and scars from repeated beatings with hot irons, wooden planks, and extension cords. Gabrielle told counselors, that her mother burned her back with a curling iron. She had a visible cut above her left eye,

which she said was the result of her mother hitting her with a plank of wood, and that her front tooth was chipped when her mother hit her in the mouth with a curling iron. Doctors found 25 scars and injuries on Matthew's back, buttocks, and hip, both old and new, that were consistent with Blair using an extension court to physically abuse him. Gabrielle told investigators that her mother pulled the children out of school two years prior. In Michigan, parents have no obligation to notify their school district or the State Department of Education if they plan to homeschool, although it is recommended in order to avoid suspicion of truancy. There is no statewide mechanism that alerts administrators or child care professionals to check on students who are removed from a school system. Parents who homeschool their children must only register with the state if they're seeking special education assistance.

Blair never submitted optional documentation to notify the State Department of Education that she was homeschooling the children. One of Stony's teachers, named Eric Fredland, actually had reported Stony's absence to a Detroit public school's attendance agent. That agent said he requested a bench warrant for Michelle Blair. However, the teacher never learned what became of that warrant. When Stoney was still out of school weeks later, Fredland called Child Protective Services. who told him that in the state of Michigan, a lack of school attendance is not neglect. And Fredland only found out what was going on with Stoney

years later when the bodies were founds. I'm not surprised. Wayne County Circuit Judge Edward Joseph terminated Michelle Blair's parental rights of the surviving children, Matthew and Gabrielle. And in an unusual turn of events, filed a petition to terminate the rights of their paternal fathers. Alexander Dorsey, the biological father of Stony and Gabrielle, said he last saw his children two years prior, and that Blair barred him from her home.

He claimed to have talked to Gabrielle approximately seven months prior. When he asked about Stony's whereabouts, he was told she was visiting her maternal great-aunt. The petition stated that Dorsey, quote, failed to protect his children from an unfit home environment where the children were physically abused, tortured and murdered, end quote, as well as adding that he owes $39,000 in back child support payments. Stephen Barry, father of Stephen and Matthew, stated that he last saw his children in April of 2012 and that Blair prevented him from seeing them. According to the petition, Barry owed more than $10,000 in child support for the two children, adding he also, quote, neglected to protect his children from an abusive environment, end quote.

Both fathers had criminal records, including convictions for drunken driving and firearms offenses. Michelle Blair pleaded guilty in June of 2015 to two counts of first degree premeditated murder and is now serving a life sentence at the Huron Valley Correctional facility

in Ipsolani, Michigan, without the possibility of parole. She has been in segregation in prison since July 19th of 2015. She has racked up 28 misconducts, including physical assault on other inmates, throwing urine on an officer through her food slot, throwing a milk carton at an officer,

and repeatedly spitting on other prisoners. And that is only 28 misconducts based on the research we found. I guarantee she's probably wrapped up way more now. And it's probably done many other things that weren't taken down as misconduct. So Gabrielle and Matthew received therapy and for a time resided in the home of their great-aunt and uncle. Ironically, their great-aunt was a retired Detroit police child abuse investigator. Gabrielle later enrolled in an independent living program and Matthew was put up for adoption,

which was expected to be finalized in May of 2016. We should probably address the sexual abuse allegations that allegedly came from Matthew. Now, over the course of being alive and sometimes reading the comment section of our YouTube channel, people will say that if anyone ever did such things to their children, even if it was their own children, doing it to their other kids, they would kill them. Whether you feel that's justified or not in this case, I think there's reason to believe that these abuse allegations never happened, or Michel was the one causing the abuse.

And the reason why I feel that way is, one, it was never substantiated by Matthew, though Matthew did tell investigators ways in which he was abused by his mother. But also that Michelle was a repeat offender of abuse, and there was documented evidence of that. Also, the fact that she was referred for a psychological evaluation makes me wonder if talking to her seems like you were talking to a crazy person. Now, of course, she never went to the referral. so that's no evidence of a diagnosis, but it's just something that makes me wonder, as Prada meows in the background. So I actually have, oh my goodness, hold this little bean.

I actually have heard interviews with Michelle Blair, and she is kind of out there. My guess is probably Matthew is playing with his dolls, and, you know, kids at that age do things. mean, geez, when I was in kindergarten, maybe even preschool, there were kids that would take the dolls and put them in inappropriate positions that, you know, they either saw from a friend or saw on TV or an older sibling taught them that because they thought it'd be funny. You know, it's not necessarily an indicator that they've been abused. But, I mean, in some cases it is. Absolutely, it is in some cases. But in this case, more than likely, and this is just an assumption, you know, take. it with a grain of salt. I know no one cares about my opinion, but, you know, maybe Matthew was just playing with his dolls a little inappropriately, and then Michelle went crazy. Yeah, I think that's the

most likely case that she saw something she didn't like and superimposed this abuse scenario. Either way, it's super sad. It is very sad. And it's sad for a number of reasons, not just that these young children were tortured and their bodies were left to sit in a free. but nobody came looking for them. Some could say, well, their fathers were turned away, but their fathers had things that they could do. They could go to social services and be like, hey, I'm not allowed to see my kids and I have visitation rights. What's going on? There's a lot they could have done that they just didn't. Now, it is possible that Michelle did have full custody, but we could not find anything that states heads or tails if she had full custody or not. If you do have that

information we would love to hear from you, Miserymachinepodcast.com, or you can leave a comment down below if you're listening on YouTube. So this case took place in Michigan, and while it's not a part of our state-by-state child abuse series, it does make me want to ask what cases from Michigan we should cover. I've never been to Michigan, neither of us have, so if you're from Michigan and you know some cases that have fallen through the cracks, we would love to cover them, and you can leave them in the comments below or Misery Machine Podcasts at gmail.com.

And I'd also like to say thank you to Pamela. She's the one who suggested this case. So thank you, Pamela. Yes, thank you, Pamela. I had never heard about this one before. So yes, please leave your episode's suggestions. If you're listening on YouTube, if you could hit like, subscribe, share this video.

These are the best ways to help our channel, especially since I guarantee you, this episode is demonetized quite often when we cover child abuse. YouTube turns off our comments and deranks us from search. So that's where we need your help in order to get to new listeners. There are also a wonderful group of people going that extra step to support us on Patreon. I will put up their names right now. Also, I want to welcome two new patrons that we just got last night at the date of this recording.

Yes, Logan and Ramona, I woke up to your lovely messaging. So thank you so much. Yes, welcome, Ramona and Logan. And thank you so much to Melissa for making a very generous contribution to our PayPal. If you don't like Patreon, PayPal is also a great way that you can support this show. Everything we get from you guys

goes back into making this podcast even better for you. Also, thank you to Levi and Cammy, our highest tier Patreon supporters. Thank you so much. There's their lovely pictures right now. And if you two want to support us on Patreon, patreon.com slash the misery machine, you get access to all of our secret episodes, you get access to our secret discord and Snapchat

groups, and you may even get a postcard. A haunted one. Patreon.com slash the misery machine. And if you're listening this far, I know you are probably a longer time fan of this channel than most of the other listeners. So you probably remember Kighton, who has been showing up at our end screens of YouTube lately, is our wonderful, fluffy, soot-sprite, Black Cat, and he has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It is a lymphosarcoma on his intestines.

We do not know how much time he has. I'm not asking for any help for his veterinary care or anything like that, but since chemotherapy radiation does not really work on a cat, especially a cat of his age, he's 16 years old. If you have any experience with this, suggestions that could help us keep Kiten here for just a little bit longer, we would love to have him through Christmas. We would love to have him see his 17th birthday in August. So please, please, please. If you know anything like that that could help, MiseryMachinePodcast at gmail.com or leave us a comment down below. Are you sure?

Yeah. This is a fine time for you to say something. I don't know. I just don't want to cry. I know he's been a really good boy lately taking his pill for me. The vets have him on prednisone zone. And it's made him a little bit more like himself. Like it was really,

Kighton's a really cuddly cat. And a lot of times you'll find him in Drew's office, like sitting on him like a baby. And we've been noticing he's just been going over to these little cat steps that we have over by a window. And he wasn't hanging out with us at all. And that's very much unlike him. He's been missing his jumps. He likes to jump on things. And I'm like, okay, we got to bring you in.

I noticed he started looking a little bit tubby and we weigh him all the time because we didn't want him to just drop weight. And when we brought him in, they did an x-ray. And he's just full of fluid. his whole tummy is like full of fluid so they can't really see a whole lot but the vet was able to feel the lump in his tummy so we don't know if we're going to have Kiten till next week. We don't know

if he's going to last a year. Thankfully he's been very, very, very good about taking his pill. It just comes down to if he's going to get so much fluid that it pushes on his internal organs and at that point I guess the vet says they can drain it but that may

only work for a few days but we're not at that point yet because Kiten's having no problems breathing or drinking. And they won't do any sort of surgery to try to take the sarcoma out because it will either just come back. And the vet said oftentimes when they open them up, if it's spread everywhere, they'll just euthanize him right there on the table. And I would not be able to forgive myself if I can't be with him.

He's an older cat, so I just don't think surgery is the way to go. I think it's more risk than anything. So we're doing everything we can to give Kaitan a comfortable life. but if you have any suggestions that could help with that, please let us know. But until next week, we love you. We love you. Bye.