Biological mother of three placed in Rose Hill home says child’s remains are her daughter

ROSE HILL, Kan. (KSNW) — A Kansas mother tells KSN she is sure that a child's remains found buried in a Rose Hill backyard, are that of her daughter's. Investigators say identification of the remains could come as soon as next week.

Christa Helm told KSN's Derek Lytle she gave DNA to investigators last Friday, to help confirm the identity of the child.

Rose Hill Police Chief Taylor Parlier said Friday, the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center said results of the autopsy could be done by mid-next week. He confirmed that Helm is the biological mother of three children who lived at the home.

Helm said she is 100% certain the remains belong to one of her daughters, who was adopted into the home with her two sisters five years ago.

Helm relinquished custody of three of her daughters in late 2018. She said she struggled when her kids were younger, spent time in jail, and dealt with substance use. In 2017, she says her kids were taken from her, and she became homeless. The three children were taken out of her care and adopted into the Rose Hill family's home in 2019. Helm said when she saw the discovery of the child's remains at the home last week, her heart dropped.

"It's disgusting, it hurts. How did my daughter end up in there, and what happened to her, to be able to be so buried," Helm said.

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She said a Rose Hill detective told her that two of her kids were accounted for and one was missing. Chief Parlier would only confirm to KSN that all juveniles in the home had been taken into protective custody, but wouldn't say how many children were in the home when the remains were found.

Helm says she wants answers to how someone could bury a child in the backyard, especially with other children in the home.

"They had to be playing in that backyard, where their sister was, and they had no idea, and if they did, how and why," Helm said.

She said nothing will ever bring full justice for what happened, but if her daughter is confirmed to be the child, she wants those responsible to be punished.

"Whatever they did to my child, they need to pay for," said Helm.

Helm still has a lot of questions.

"How does nobody know this child is missing?" she said. "Why was DCF not checking up on her?"

Chief Parlier said that finding justice has become his mission.

"The only thing keeping me from falling down into sadness is the anger I have toward whoever did that to that individual. I can tell you there's nothing else more important in my world now than finding out who is responsible," Parlier said.

Helm said she wants to get custody back of her two daughters, who she says are now in state protective care. She said she's learned from her past mistakes that led to her losing custody, has gotten into a recovery program, and she's ready to be reunited.

"Their mom loves them, I always will, I've lived, I've learned, there are a lot of things I didn't know when they were little, and I was young. I can't imagine seeing their faces in this tragedy is the worst way possible, but God creates miracles and brings families back together in ways you can't expect," Helm said.

Chief Parlier said they hope to make an arrest or multiple arrests once they confirm the identity.

Helm said if it is her daughter, she hopes to one day give her a proper funeral and burial.