Bowman was earlier sentenced to 25 years for abuse

A woman in the US state of Maryland has been convicted of murdering two adopted daughters whose bodies she kept in a freezer, moving them from home to home.

Renee Bowman, 44, was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and three of first-degree child abuse.

The two bodies were found in a freezer in her home in Lusby in September 2008 after a third girl escaped.

Authorities do not know exactly when the two girls, who would now be 11 and 12 had they lived, were killed.

But Bowman moved home three times in the past three years, bringing a large freezer along with her.

Her crimes were uncovered when the surviving girl was found, aged seven, half-naked and covered in blood after escaping from the Bowman home.

Inside Bowman's freezer were the frozen bodies of Minnet, the eldest, and Jasmine.

Special needs children

Bowman had received subsidies for all three children from the District of Columbia, where the girls were adopted.

The subsidies are given to parents who adopt special-needs children from foster care, the Associated Press news agency notes.

Bowman has already pleaded guilty to abusing the surviving girl and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in that case.

The girl, now nine and living with new foster parents, testified in the murder trial last week.

Bowman is due to be sentenced over the new convictions on 22 March. Prosecutors said they would ask for life in prison without the possibility of parole.