Kansas police responding to a mental health crisis at a residence in Rose Hill found the remains of a child that has been dead for several years, and one local woman believes the remains belong to her young daughter.
Officers from the Rose Hill Police Department were called to a home on September 10 after receiving reports of an individual threatening self-harm.
"This person was barricaded within an interior room, and it was believed they had a firearm," Chief Taylor Parlier said in a statement to PEOPLE.
While authorities were on scene, they learned of a past homicide, according to the police statement.
The following day, they returned to discover the remains of a child in the backyard of the residence.
Due to the state of composition, it appears as though the body has been there for several years, said Parlier.
Christa Hem is now alleging the remains are those of her young daughter.
She told KSN she is certain as her three biological children were adopted five years prior and had been living at the residence.
While authorities have not identified the child, a person close to Helm started a GoFundMe for legal expenses to retrieve her two other living children from the same home and retrieve her deceased daughter, Natalie, whom she believes is the child law enforcement located.
Helm said that she gave up custody of her children in 2019 after struggling with substance abuse.
While the child has yet to be identified, Parlier is hopeful to receive postmortem results by the end of this week.
He also stated there are no ongoing missing persons cases on record in the area to prematurely link the remains to the body found.
"Until we get the forensic identification of the remains, our investigation will remain broad," Parlier said in the statement.
"Once we can identify the person who had been buried, we will have a clearer path forward in our investigation."
