Dead Baby Stored In Freezer By GA Couple: Cops

DOTHAN, AL — A Georgia couple, including a man who was shot by police in Florida, are accused of stuffing the body of their dead, 6-month-old baby boy in a freezer and leaving it there for days.

Carlton James Mathis, of Gainesville, GA, and Amanda Gail Oakes, of Murrayville, are charged with abuse of a corpse after what became a three-state hunt for the couple. Murder charges may come later, police say.

On Monday, police in Dothan, AL say they found the body of Carlton James Oakes in the freezer in a hotel room at the InTown Suites on Ross Clark Circle. It appeared the body had been there for 5 or 6 days, police said, and witnesses told police that Oakes and Mathis had placed the child in the freezer.

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Police say they believe the boy was dead before he was placed in the freezer, but they do suspect foul play in his death.

The discovery came hours after Mathis, 28, was shot four times by police in Bronson, FL — a small town about 30 miles inland from Florida's Gulf Coast. In Georgia, Hall County Sheriff's Office deputies had put out an alert for Mathis and Oakes, 36, in regard to a possible infant death.

They were found at an apartment complex in Bronson and deputies from Levy County and Alachua County sheriff's offices tried to make contact with Mathis as he was leaving, authorities say. According to police, Mathis pulled a handgun and tried to run away.

He was shot four times by an Alachua County SWAT team member and is currently at a Florida hospital in stable condition. Before the Alabama charges, he was being held on a parole violation warrant out of Hall County.

After the couple was captured in Florida, they gave authorities information that led them to the Alabama hotel room.

The baby's body was taken to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science in Montgomery, AL, for an autopsy to determine his cause of death. Dothan Police say they expect murder charges to be filed against Mathis and Oakes once they are extradited from Florida to Alabama and after the autopsy is complete.

They were being held in Florida on a $15,000 bond on the abuse of a corpse charges.

Photos courtesy Dothan (AL) Police Department