The mother of a Manatee County girl found dead in a freezer has been sentenced to 65 years in prison.
News outlets report that 33-year-old Keishanna Thomas was sentenced Wednesday after pleading no contest to charges of second-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and abuse of a dead body.
Authorities say the body of 11-year-old Janiya Thomas was found in October 2015 in a freezer that her mother had delivered to a relative's Bradenton-area house. Relatives opened the padlocked freezer after hearing the child was missing.
An indictment says Thomas killed Janiya through some combination of starving, asphyxiation and drowning. She was last seen in June 2014.
A state report said child protective services investigators and partnering agencies for years failed to accurately assess the pattern of violence at the Thomas home.
