Girl's brother told police: "She's probably dead or something"

BRADENTON (FOX 13) - The teenage brother of a missing Bradenton girl told detectives that she was "probably dead," according to a police report.

Keishanna Thomas was arrested last week after she refused to tell investigators where her daughter Janiya was.  According to Child Protection Services, the 11-year-old was last seen on June 9, 2014.

Investigators later found a girl's body -- believed to be Janiya -- in a freezer.

Thomas, 31, was charged with a new count of aggravated child abuse Monday based, in part, on statements made by her siblings.  According to a police report, they said Keishanna would keep Janiya in a bathroom because the girl suffered from a medical condition that caused her to soil herself -- an occurrence that sometimes resulted in beatings.

Janiya was locked in the bathroom for days at a time, even forced to eat and sleep there, the kids told detectives.  Keishanna slept in the front room to keep the girl from sneaking out and threatened to "beat her a--" if she did.

The other kids would sometimes bring her food, but one day, they said, she disappeared.

"One day we went to school and came back. She was just gone," her brother said.

When asked where he suspected she was, he said, "I think she is dead or something."

Investigators are still waiting for a medical examiner to identify the body found in the freezer, which neighbors said had been dropped off -- padlocked -- at a relative's home last week.

Thomas remains behind bars with no bond.