The case began as one of child abuse took a grisly turn on Sunday, when Plumas County authorities got a call from someone in Monterey County asking about the condition of a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old tied to the case. Detectives questioned the woman and teenager again and that's when they learned of the storage locker, the sheriff told the Bee.
Redding Police Lt. Pete Brindley wouldn't say whether the two children were killed in the storage unit or elsewhere.
The pair made a brief court appearance Tuesday but did not enter pleas and their arraignments were postponed until Jan. 7.
Attorneys Douglas Prouty, who represents the 39-year-old, and Robert Zernich, who represents the teen, both declined to comment. The Associated Press typically does not identify abuse victims; it is not naming the teen or the woman because their relationship to the children is unclear.
Meanwhile, south of San Francisco, authorities searched a home in Salinas, where the teen and woman recently lived. They did not say whether they found anything.
Social services had investigated the 39-year-old and her family within the last year for general neglect, said Elliott Robinson, director of social services for Monterey County.
Robinson's office filed the death reports for the two children found in Redding. He declined to comment further.