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Police in Eastpointe say 2 children and their mother were found dead on Monday.(Photo: Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press)
DETROIT — Within the next two weeks, Celeste Fradeneck would have turned 3; her older brother, Timothy Fradeneck, 9.
All the joys of childhood and the rest of their lives were ahead of the Eastpointe children.
Instead of celebrating their birthdays, relatives, friends and neighbors are mourning their young lives, cut short along with that of their 37-year-old mother, Christie Fradeneck.
The trio were found dead inside their bungalow home on Cushing Monday night. The person in custody, but not yet charged, is a familiar one — the children's father and Fradeneck's husband.
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The 38-year-old man is being held in the Eastpointe police lockup and could be arraigned Wednesday afternoon in Eastpointe District Court. He has not been named because he has not been charged.
Authorities have not said how Fradeneck and her children died, but they are treating their deaths as homicides. Autopsies are to be completed Wednesday, Public Safety Director John McNeilance said.
Police have not given a motive for the killings, which stunned neighbors, who remembered the children playing outside, the mother taking her son to school and the father mowing the grass in this city on the northern edge of Metro Detroit.
The deaths have rocked many residents who just a short time ago were shocked by the death of an infant born in an Eastpointe garage less than a mile away around Christmastime.
The Fradenecks' next-door neighbor, Melanie Parkins, 35, said she was at work when her boyfriend called her with news about the deaths.
"I never thought in a million years he'd do something like this," she said.
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Police said Fradeneck's sister called police asking to check on the welfare of those inside the home in the 22000 block of Cushing about 6:50 p.m. Monday after being unable to contact her sister all day. Officers knocked on the door, went inside and found the bodies of the children and their mother, McNeilance said.
Police in Eastpointe say 2 children and their mother were found dead on Monday.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press)
He declined to say where the victims were found inside the home, how they died, if there were obvious signs of foul play or if a weapon was recovered.
The suspect, who was at the home, was arrested without incident, Detective Lt. Neil Childs said. McNeilance said police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Police have not said how long the bodies were in the home before being found, but Childs said that he believed the suspect was in the home the entire time.
McNeilance did not know how long the family lived there, but he said there had been no recent police contacts with the home or its residents.
A former neighbor, Tyrone Smith, 26, who still lives on the street, said the suspect threatened him with a hayfork last summer about a loud car that was idling as Smith got the vehicle ready for the Dream Cruise.
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The suspect pleaded guilty to disorderly person, a reduced charge from domestic violence, in a 2009 case, according to 38th District Court records. The offense occurred nearly six years to the day of the homicides. McNeilance said he believed the incident involved a relative, but not the man's wife. The suspect was placed on probation for a year.
A male relative, who did not give his name, said of the crimes this week: "It's a big loss." He said a lawyer, who he did not name, was to give a statement.
Stunned neighbors indicated the family had lived in the home possibly a few years. They described their neighborhood as quiet with few problems. Today, though, a steady stream of vehicles passed up and down the street, slowly driving past the house.
Neighbors recalled seeing the children playing outside the 1 1/2-story home, where yellow crime scene taped was stretched across the front porch. There were two wicker chairs and a table on the porch and a spring wreath with flowers on the front door.
A couple of neighbors thought the suspect worked in construction.
Police said Timothy would have turned 9 on April 23; his sister would have turned 3 four days later.
"They were always a good family," neighbor Janet Babel, 53, said.
Timothy attended Disney Elementary in Fraser Public Schools, where he was in third grade, according to an email from district spokeswoman Nicole Malak. She wrote that the district's crisis response team is providing emotional support and grief counseling for students, staff and members of the Fraser community "during this most difficult time."
"It's crazy. It's hard to believe," said another of the family's neighbors, Wes Schwamb, 52. "The kids always played outside; the father would be cutting the lawn."
The couple filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011, according to federal court documents. They state, at that time, that the suspect was unemployed and Fradeneck was owner of Blonde Ambition Salon in Clinton Township. The documents indicated she had been employed seven years. The case was terminated in July 2011.
A www.gofundme.com campaign has raised more than $13,000 to help with funeral costs for Fradeneck and her children.
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