Mother sentenced in babies' deaths

WENDEN, Germany, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- German authorities say a mother in Wenden has been sentenced in the deaths of two of her babies whose bodies were found in her freezer.

Monika Halbe, 44, was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for manslaughter in the deaths of two girls born in 1988 and 2003, the BBC reported Monday.

Halbe was not tried for the death of a third baby girl found in the freezer because too much time had elapsed since the girl's birth in 1986, the BBC reported.

Halbe, whose teenage son found the corpses in May while looking for a pizza, denied killing the babies and said she kept them in the freezer to be near them.

Prosecutors contend the baby born in 1988 was suffocated and the baby born in 2003 was drowned, the BBC reported, noting Halbe's lawyers said she was an alcoholic who was ambivalent about having more children.