Couple find children’s bodies while unpacking

AMERICAN couple Michael and Kathleen Manning made a ghastly discovery at their home in Minnesota after unpacking items that had belonged to a deceased relative — first one, then another and, finally, a third body of an infant.

Investigators believe there are no more bodies to be discovered and are focusing on why and how the remains ended up in storage at the house in Coon Rapids, Anoka County. The infants are estimated to have been dead for at least 10 years.

"There's just so much incomplete information available to us that we're just doing everything we can to avoid jumping to conclusions," said Capt Robert Aldrich of the Anoka County Sheriff's Department.

"We know that the trunk came from that deceased relative's property. We don't know if she was holding it for someone at this point."

The discovery of the three bodies began when the couple started unpacking storage items belonging to Kathleen Manning's mother, who died several years ago. The items had been stored at Michael Manning's trucking business, Manning Transfer in Blaine, for the last three or four years.

This week, the couple took the storage items from one of the semi-trailers at Manning Transfer and moved them to their home on 127th Avenue Northwest.

As they unpacked about 5pm on Monday, they came upon a large, padlocked black steamer trunk the kind used when people once travelled on steam ships.

They opened the container, which was about 4 feet long, 2 feet high and 2 feet deep.

Inside was an infant's body and also a locked old typewriter-style suitcase.

The Mannings called Coon Rapids police. Investigators arrived and, in addition to the body inside the large steamer trunk, they found another body in the small case.

Authorities discovered the third body between 7:30 and 8am Tuesday in another small padlocked case that was in storage. All the bodies were wrapped, but it was unclear what material was used, Capt Aldrich said.

Capt Aldrich said it wasn't clear whether there was foul play in the deaths of the infants.

Authorities didn't release the name of the woman who the storage items belonged to, but they said she had been a Minneapolis resident.

The Anoka County medical examiner's office was conducting autopsies yesterday.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension might also conduct DNA testing to try to identify possible relatives.