Remains of children found in cooler in woman’s home

A home health care aide is being held on $5 million bail after the remains of an infant and a fetus were discovered in her apartment.

Michelle Margaret Kalina, 44, of Reading, was charged with two counts of abuse of a corpse.

Last month, police received a tip that bones were stashed inside a blue cooler inside Kalina's home on the 700 block of Court Street. Investigators collected the remains and turned them over to the D.A.'s office, said Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams.

Reading police arrested Kalina Monday evening after a forensic anthropologist determined the remains found on July 29 were human, Adams said.

Forensic anthropologist Kelly Gillis said the infant had been about 28 days old at the time of death; the fetus was about 20 weeks along in its gestation.

Gillis was not able to determine the gender of either the infant or the fetus or if they were Kalina's.

Kalina, Adams said, is a nursing assistant who works with the elderly.