Satrina Roberts was known in the O'Donnell Heights public housing complex as a nice lady who loved listening to gospel music, enjoyed braiding the hair of neighborhood children and ate steamed crabs with nieces and nephews who visited on summer weekends.

But Baltimore police Detective Marvin Sydnor describes a wholly different person, one he said showed no emotion as paramedics removed the badly bruised and emaciated body of 15-year-old Ciara Jobes from Roberts' kitchen floor.

"She was not crying," said Sydnor, a homicide detective for 18 years. "She was not remorseful at all. She never asked [paramedics] was the girl dead."

Relatives, neighbors and police are providing new details about Roberts, 31, who was Ciara's legal guardian for the past three years and is accused of killing her.

Even though some of Roberts' relatives insist she could not have committed such a crime, they say she suffered from mental illness -- and perhaps should not have been allowed to care for Ciara.

Niecey Roberts, Satrina's oldest sister, said she questioned social services representatives about the wisdom of placing Ciara in the custody of a person who was manic-depressive and schizophrenic.

"When they saw that she didn't have a criminal background, bam, they were like, OK, you got her," said Niecey Roberts, 34. "In my opinion, Trina should've never had custody of her with that illness."

Social services officials insisted again yesterday they received no reports of abuse. But they declined to answer questions about their contacts with Ciara and Satrina Roberts, who was given legal custody to protect the girl from a neglectful mother, a former drug user who died of cancer and AIDS in July.

Roberts, a family friend, was periodically entrusted with Ciara's care by the city Department of Social Services until being granted guardianship in January 2000 by a Baltimore Circuit Court judge. Records show more than a decade of juvenile court proceedings concerning the child's welfare.

Niecey Roberts said that when her sister skipped her medication, she could sometimes "get nasty."

"But never with kids," she said. "She got along better with kids than she did with adults. She loved children."

Niecey Roberts said her sister, whom family members called Trina, often baby-sat several of her six children on weekends, without problems.

Although Roberts' relatives are mystified about the death of Ciara, they say she was ill for a long time. They believed she suffered from AIDS. Police say they've received no evidence of that.

"Ciara was sick," Niecey Roberts said. "The only thing that Trina was wrong about was not taking her to the doctor and seeing that [illness] cared about."

When Roberts called paramedics to her home Dec. 11, Ciara was covered with cuts and bruises and weighed 73 pounds.

Sydnor, the lead investigator in the case, said Roberts calmly stood at her door puffing on a cigarette as investigators and paramedics moved about her apartment in the 1200 block of Gregor Way in Southeast Baltimore.

Ciara was in front of the stove, on top of a soiled comforter -- wearing clean clothes.

"We believe that she was redressed before she was taken down into the kitchen," Sydnor said. "The clothes were not consistent with her bedding, which was soiled and dirty."

Roberts, who remains in the Baltimore City jail charged with first-degree murder, told police she wore latex gloves as she carried the child's body downstairs, though she didn't elaborate on why, Sydnor said.

Downstairs, investigators noted a small Christmas tree in the living room, adorned with red bows, red and gold balls and red tinsel. Beneath it were a few, unwrapped toys including a black Barbie doll and other items appropriate for children younger than Ciara.

Upstairs, where visitors apparently hadn't ventured, was a different scene.

Ciara's room was unfurnished, police say, except for a pair of black shoes and a small, plastic container. There was no bed, no chest of drawers -- not even a mattress on the floor.

The girl was forced to use a hole in the wall as a toilet.

The walls were splattered with excrement.

And the bedroom door was chained, which might explain why Ciara never tried to run away.

"I'm angry that one human being could do that to another," Sydnor said.

Ciara earned A's at Southeast Middle School and sometimes tutored neighborhood children in algebra, but she had not gone to school this fall. Neighbors say they wondered why they hadn't seen Ciara -- described by a pastor at her funeral as a loving girl with a bright smile -- playing with other kids during the summer.

But when Roberts told them the girl had been causing trouble and had been sent to Roberts' mother's home for the summer, they believed it.

Niecey Roberts said that her sister is not a villain. "She cared for that girl," she said.

Their mother, Cora Roberts, isn't swayed by the police account.

"I'm standing by her no matter what. She said she did not do what they said. She's a real nice girl. She is my daughter, my baby. It just don't sound like something she would do," she said.

At the Department of Social Services, spokeswoman Sue Fitzsimmons refuses to discuss Ciara's case, noting confidentiality laws.

The courts, not DSS, appointed Roberts as Ciara's guardian, Fitzsimmons said. Court officials have refused to comment.

"We make recommendations, we do home studies," Fitzsimmons said yesterday. "When we go to court, DSS is represented by an attorney, the child is represented by an attorney, and parents or guardians may also have attorneys representing them. Sometimes the attorneys agree on a plan, sometimes they don't. But the ultimate decision rests with the courts."

Fitzsimmons declined to say whether DSS had recommended Roberts as Ciara's guardian. She also would not say what, if any, contact the department had with Ciara since she was placed under Roberts' care.

She continues to deny claims by city schools officials that they reported to social services a year ago their suspicion that Ciara -- who came to school with dirty clothes, often smelled and sometimes stole food from her classmates in the cafeteria -- was being abused.

"I'm not saying the school is lying," Fitzsimmons said. "I'm saying we don't have a report."

Sun staff writer Kimberly A.C. Wilson also contributed to this article.