Woman pleads not guilty to abusing slain Ala. kids

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) — A 22-year-old woman has pleaded not guilty to charges of abusing her common-law husband’s two young children, who authorities say were killed and dumped in the woods of rural Alabama and Mississippi.

A judge ordered Heather Leavell-Keaton held on $206,000 bond at today’s hearing in Mobile.

She had been brought back to Alabama from Kentucky. Her husband, 27-year-old John DeBlase, has been charged with murdering the children. His bond was set earlier at $500,000.

Authorities have said DeBlase and Leavell-Keaton share responsibility for the children’s deaths.

Remains believed to be those of DeBlase’s 3-year-old son Chase and daughter Natalie have been found. Natalie would have turned 5 in November.

Authorities say DeBlase directed them to the wooded areas where the bodies were dumped.