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Cops’ Tragic Discovery: Two Dead Children Found In Northern California Storage Unit

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 00:54 PST, Dec 16, 2015

Two children were found dead inside a storage unit in Northern California. Delylah Tara, 3 and Shaun Tara, 6, were found wrapped in plastic inside rubber trash containers. A 9-year-old girl, possibly known as “Frankie” Tara, also a sibling, was found at the home of the child abuse, murder, and torture suspects. The starving child was rushed to the hospital for surgery.

Tami Joy Huntsman, 39, and her alleged boyfriend, Gonzalo Curiel, 17, were arrested on multiple felonies related to the starvation, disfiguring torture, and murder of the two children found in the storage unit. Huntsman is reportedly an aunt to the children. She is believed to have become their guardian after the mother of the children died in 2013. Some news reports indicate the birth mother of the children committed suicide, other accounts indicate she died in a car accident.

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Tami Joy Huntsman and Gonzalo Curiel are each being held on a $1 million bond. The discovery of the two children inside the storage unit stemmed from an ongoing investigation into child abuse claims levied against the couple. While living in the small town of East Quincy, an unknown individual tipped off the police about child abuse going on inside the home. Curiel, who is being tried as an adult, ultimately told police in Redding, California, where to find the remains of Delylah Tara and Shaun Tara. Redding is located in Plumas County and is about 300 miles from San Francisco.

Hunstman is a mother to a set of 12-year-old twins, a boy and a girl. The children were removed from the home where the couple was staying and placed in foster care. Frankie Tara was also found inside the same home, Fox News reports.

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Both Gonzalo Curiel and Tami Joy Huntsman were charged with a count of “mayhem.” Such a charge is used when the accused “intentionally disfigured” a victim, according to KSBW News. Pumas County Sheriff Greg Hagwood said that both his deputies and hospital staffers were “shaken to the core” by the discovery of the surviving 9-year-old girl.

“That little girl had been subjected to the most unspeakable measure of torture for an extended period of time. This is child abuse, the likes of which we haven’t experienced here,” Sheriff Hagwood added.

The girl unofficially identified as Frankie Tara was “severely abused” and spent five hours in surgery after being transported to a local hospital, according to the Plumas County News.

On December 7, Huntsman and Curiel moved from Salinas to East Quincy. Neither the child abuse victims nor the twins had been enrolled in school after the move. The couple was staying at a friend’s home. It is not yet known if the individual who owned or rented the home will face any charges related to the abuse of the 9-year-old girl discovered by Redding police officers.

The accused child killers reportedly rented the storage unit where the two dead children were found on December 4. Although the autopsies of the Delylah and Shaun Tara have not yet been completed, the case is being investigated as a homicide. Police investigators do not yet know the exact cause of death of the two children found in the storage unit, or if the victims were killed elsewhere and then the bodies moved to the unit.

[Image via Shutterstock.com]

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