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Deputies Identify Suspect In Connection With Human Remains At Colfax Storage Unit

COLFAX (CBS13) – A shocking discovery was made at a Placer County Storage unit when a woman stumbled onto remains.

Deputies say the bodies belong to small babies.

"You just get to bid on these units, you get to look from the outside," said Regina Zimmer, who found the remains.

Zimmer says she's had a good time in the past bidding on abandoned storage lockers, but a recent winning-bid on a unit at Sierra Self Storage in Colfax came with a grisly discovery.

"I had a feeling it wasn't something good," she said.

The unit had a storage ottoman inside, sealed with tape.

"As soon as we opened it and took the lid off, the smell was horrible," she said.

Inside were multiple garbage bags with food and a stuffed animal, she says. They called Placer County Sheriff's deputies who opened the last bag.

"I could tell it was a skull and it was a little jawbone and hair," she said.

Deputies say not one but two small babies were found inside the bag.

"You just don't just throw your child -- your baby -- into a trash."

Deputies say they have found who they believe to be the mother of both babies -- not a teenage girl, but a 32-year-old woman.

"We're trying to determine the age of the fetus, if it was a viable fetus or if it was a miscarriage, and then it's just the illegal dumping of human remains if that's the case," said Lt. John Poretti, a spokesman for the Placer County Sheriff's Department.

If the babies were alive, the suspect could be facing double-murder charges. California allows healthy babies to be dropped off at multiple locations, including fire stations. For moms like Zimmer, regardless of whether the babies are still born or not, justice should be served.

"She should answer to what she has done," said Zimmer.

Investigators believe the corpses were in the storage unit for at least six months.

Detectives are still investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident.  Anyone with more information is asked to call Detective Mike Simmons at (530) 889-7894.

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