DCF in FLorida fails yet again: 
ESCAMBIA COUNTY - A mother...charged with causing the death of her 18-month old daughter...and throwing her body in the trash... will have her first appearance in court today.
It's continuing coverage of a story we brought you yesterday...
Christian Rochelle Woods is also facing child cruelty charges...In addition to a manslaughter charge.
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says Woods left town last Friday and went to Mobile.
Morgan says she left her children...Two year old son Jetarious...and one year old twins Myleaha and Mykayhla...alone in a home on Scotland Circle.
They only had six open containers of jello to eat.
The home had no electricity or running water.
Investigators say, when Woods returned she called them from a nearby grocery store, claiming that...
Myleaha was missing.
But deputies didn't believe Woods...and contacted a grandfather who went to the home.
He found Jetarious malnourished and with a welt on his forehead.
That's when deputies arrested Woods.
Twelve hours later...investigators say she admitted to putting Myleaha's body in a trash can behind the house.
Investigators then found Mykayhla alive under a bed.
Mykayhla and Jetarious were hospitalized.
Woods is being held in the Escambia County Jail without bond.
Death Investigation• IN FLORIDA NEWS
DCF had investigated and found no reason to remove these innocent children
http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_4482.shtmlBaby dead in trash, 2 others neglected
Woman left kids alone for 2 days, officials say
Thyrie Bland and Rebekah Allen •
tbland@pnj.com /
rallen@pnj.com • October 14, 2009
Print this page E-mail this article Share Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
Reddit
Newsvine
Buzz up!Twitter
A mother of three toddlers confessed that she found one of her 18-month-old twin daughters dead and put the baby's body in a trash can after leaving the children alone for two days, authorities said Tuesday.
Christian Rochelle Woods, 21, a single mother, left her children home alone from 10 a.m. Saturday to 9:30 a.m. Monday with only six cups of Jell-O in the living room, Sheriff David Morgan said.
When Woods returned, she found her daughter, Myleahya, dead and put her body in the trash can at her back door, Morgan said.
This afternoon, she was in court to answer a manslaughter charge in connection to the toddler's death. She also is charged with aggravated child abuse due to neglect of Mykayhla, and her 2-year-old son, Jaterius. This afternoon, Jaterius was in good condition and Mykayhla was in fair condition at Sacred Heart Hospital.
Judge John Simon set bail totaling $1 million: $500,000 for the manslaughter and $250,000 for each child abuse charge.
Assistant State Attorney John Molchan represented the State Attorney's Office.
When Simon asked if anyone was there to speak on Christian Wood's behalf, no one in the courtroom spoke.
Molchan said an autopsy revealed the toddler weighed 11 pounds. Though the children were left with cups of Jell-O, there was food in the pantry and milk in the refrigerator.
The case began about 3 a.m. Tuesday when investigators found Myleahya's body and her twin, Mykayhla, barely alive under a bed at a home in the 5600 block of Scotland Circle in Bellview.
"I was, obviously, shocked by the case itself," Morgan said.
A cup of water and bottle of cranberry juice sat on the sidewalk in front of Christian Woods' Scotland Circle residence this morning.
Yellow crime-scene tape were all that remained in a trash can outside the house.
Residents in the neighborhood remained shocked a day after the case unfolded.
"I don't like to think about," said Woods' neighbor Martin McManus, a single father of a 13-year-old boy. "All you can do is try to keep your own children safe."
(2 of 3)
McManus has lived two houses from Woods for about a year but said he never spoke with her nor saw her outside with her children.
"This is not a rough neighborhood, but I never expected anyone like that lived here," he said of Woods.
Jeff Martin, spokesman for the medical examiner's office, was not available this morning to comment about Myleahya's cause of death. Other employees with the office said Martin is the only person who can release information about an ongoing case.
Mykayhla and Jaterius were at Sacred Heart Hospital on Tuesday being treated for signs of neglect, including dehydration. Morgan said his officers have been told the children are expected to survive.
The siblings were left alone at a rental home that had no electricity or running water, Morgan said.
Jell-O cups were left in the living room for the children to eat while the mother was away, he said. There was no water or juice available.
Woods' electricity was disconnected on Monday, Gulf Power Co. spokesman Jeff Rogers said, adding Woods allowed a grace period to expire. The company was working with Woods to keep the electricity flowing, Rogers said.
Woods told investigators she was at work in Mobile, Morgan said. The sheriff said his office has not verified that she has a job there.
Woods' arrest report lists her as being unemployed.
Woods was being held without bond Tuesday at Escambia County Jail.
An autopsy was performed Tuesday on Myleahya, but the results were not available. A time of death has not been established, Morgan said.
Missing-child report
The story of the children began to unfold about 2:30 p.m Monday when their mother went to a Winn-Dixie and called the Sheriff's Office to report Myleahya was missing and possibly abducted, Morgan said.
She also called a grandparent and asked him to go to her home to get the other children. The grandfather found only the 2-year-old boy at the home, Morgan said.
Investigators went to the home but did not find the twin girls, according to an arrest report.
The investigators launched "an aggressive investigation" to find them, the report says.
(3 of 3)
Investigators questioned Woods for about 12 hours, and she gave conflicting stories about what happened to the children, Morgan said. She finally admitted that Myleahya was dead, and she thought Mykayhla was still alive, he said.
Investigators went to the home at about 3 a.m. Tuesday and found Myleahya in a trash can behind the home.
They found Mykayhla under a bed. They thought she was dead, too, until her eyes fluttered, Morgan said.
"I can tell you that there was jubilation in the room," the sheriff said.
Morgan said the home that the children were left in was in disarray.
"The home was filthy, and there were several roaches throughout the home," according to a Sheriff's Office arrest report.
The Department of Children and Families has visited the house in the past. There was a complaint of neglect filed concerning the boy, said Janice Thomas, circuit administrator for the Department of Children and Families. 
Thomas could not provide details of the case, citing privacy laws. But she said the department did not recommend the child be removed from the house nor any court action.
Neighbors react
Crime scene unit investigators paraded in and out of Woods' empty home Tuesday afternoon.
The house stands out in the quiet Bellview neighborhood, with its thick, overgrown grass in a neighborhood of well-kept lawns. The blinds were cracked and broken and a paring knife was lying in the driveway.
On the front porch, there was an unopened box of 82 Parent's Choice diapers. There also was a tiny, red ladybug costume lying above a tiny tan lion costume.
Neighbors said they hardly knew Woods and said she mostly kept to herself. Most neighbors refused to be identified for this story.
Charlotte Potter, 56, has lived across the street from Woods' home since 1986. She said Woods lived there about a year, but they only spoke once when her car battery died, and she needed a jump to get to work.
"She talked real kind and real soft. I would have never guessed," Potter said. "It makes me just sick to my stomach though. I was never fortunate to have kids of my own. I would have tried to help her if I had known."
Neighbors said Woods had an erratic schedule that had her coming home sometimes in the middle of the night.
Some neighbors said they didn't realize she had children.
Potter said it seemed like Woods lived alone with her children, but sometimes another woman she guessed was an older sister stayed with her.
Potter saw an elderly man at the house Monday evening.
"I thought he was looking for the lady that lives here," Potter said. "He said no, he said he was concerned about his two granddaughters."
