2 missing girls found stabbed to death in NC; father arrested on murder charges

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- A North Carolina man was arrested on murder charges after his two young daughters, who had been reported missing and endangered, were found stabbed to death, authorities said.

Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said Genesis and Serenity Freeman - who were just 2-years-old and 4-days-old - were stabbed multiple times. Their bodies were found in a car parked in a wooded area of Raeford.

"It's kind of hard to find the words to describe what this feels like," said Peterkin. "I know people read it, I know people see the story and hear about it, but to be out here on the scene and actually see this stuff, to see these children lifeless and brutally stabbed. I don't care how many years you've been in it. How many times you've been in it or seen things, this was not a good experience. Everybody's taking this real hard. Our heart goes out to the family, to the mother."

On Friday, the Fayetteville Police Department said the children's father, Tillman Freeman, was in custody and had refused to say where the children were. He was charged then with two counts of child abuse and child neglect. He has since been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Fayetteville police said the children were at the center of a domestic-related incident between Freeman, 30, and his wife, who was at the hospital at the time. Freeman allegedly left with the children.

"From what our investigation's telling us they had a dispute, where (Freeman) allegedly made accusations about the babies not being his, a child not being his or maybe her involvement with someone, and when he took the kids we understand he left in a rage," Peterkin told ABC7 sister station, WTVD-TV.

The children's aunt, Marvina Smith, told the station Saturday afternoon that the children's mother attempted suicide when she discovered her kids had been murdered. She is currently recovering in the hospital.

"I want him to suffer," Smith said. "The way them kids suffered. I want him to suffer."

The SBI is investigating. Freeman has a court appearance on Monday.