NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Two women who led sad, troubled lives ended up dead in a wooded area five miles south of here, their bodies found less than a football field apart.

One was Mandy Sue McLaren, 24, a convicted murderer who served five years in jail for the starvation death of one of her twin sons.

The other was Tammie K. Mullins, 36, who served jail time for theft. Mullins was back in court as recently as Aug. 1, when she signed an arraignment waiver on a charge of receiving stolen property. Her husband, Jeffery A. Mullins of New Castle, reported her missing four days after that.

Pennsylvania State Police identified both women yesterday, less than 24 hours after their bodies were found in Taylor, between a railroad yard and Route 168.

In an interview yesterday, Lawrence County District Attorney Matthew T. Mangino called the spot "a crime scene." He declined to say more in deference to police, who spent the day combing the countryside for leads. Autopsies also were to be done yesterday under the direction of the county coroner.

Tight-lipped all day, state police would mention only one possible connection between McLaren and Mullins. They did not have known addresses, police said, but both frequented the Big Run apartments on New Castle's South Side.

The case began when someone hunting for scrap metal found one body Wednesday afternoon. Police discovered the second body nearby, while searching for clues about the first.

In the Lawrence County Courthouse, both women's names were well-known to lawyers and clerks in the criminal division.

Mangino personally prosecuted McLaren for third-degree murder in a case that began when she was 17 years old, pregnant and raising twin sons in a trailer.

"I remember she was a young mother who wasn't comprehending the basic needs of young children," Mangino said.

A Lawrence County social worker was more blunt. She said one of McLaren's 8-month-old twins, James Edward Strayer Jr., was so emaciated that his limbs looked like sticks.

McLaren and her former boyfriend, James Strayer, then 20, took the baby to Jameson Health System in New Castle on April 28, 1998. After learning that the frail boy had a twin, doctors demanded that his brother be brought in for examination as well.

Both babies were so badly malnourished they were transferred to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh, where James Jr. died the next day. His twin, Jason, and another baby McLaren delivered later that year were placed in foster care. Both were subsequently adopted.

After James Jr. died, McLaren and Strayer moved out of their mobile home in rural Edinburg. Homeless, they drifted on the streets of New Castle until police located and arrested them four months later.

At the time, McLaren's relatives said they believed she loved her babies and did not deliberately withhold milk or formula from them. Rather, they believed she was too immature to properly care for the twins, who were born three months premature.

McLaren, who had served 403 days in jail by the time she was sentenced, received a two- to four-year prison term for her baby's death. But because of her youth, she was allowed to serve her time in the Lawrence County Jail.

LeAnn Halfast, spokeswoman for the state Board of Probation and Parole, said McLaren was granted parole on Sept. 18, 2001. She was freed from state supervision on April 21, 2004.

McLaren's grandmother, Arietta McLaren, 77, of New Castle, said yesterday she had seen McLaren off and on in recent months, but could not remember the last time they visited. Arietta McLaren said she did not know Mullins.

Of her granddaughter, she said: "She had problems with being nervous and not able to cope with people."

The last she knew, her granddaughter had been living in an apartment in "the projects'' on New Castle's East Side. McLaren had no other children, her grandmother said. After leaving jail, she worked for a time, doing gardening and other jobs but had been living on disability payments, her grandmother said.

Mullins also had a criminal record in Lawrence County. A judge in September 2000 sentenced her from two to 12 months in jail for theft, and ordered her into a drug rehabilitation program. A civil court filing showed that she still owed some $1,300 in restitution and fines.

She got in trouble with the law again in February. Mangino said she was charged with receiving stolen property after a rental car was never returned. After she waived arraignment Aug. 1, she was placed on the October trial schedule, Mangino said.

Though state police said Mullins had no known address, court records list her with two places of residence in New Castle. Both were on Morris Street, a block apart.

One of those was also the address of her husband, Jeffrey. He went to New Castle police the evening of Aug. 5 and reported his wife missing, a detective said yesterday. He would not release the incident report yesterday, or reveal any other details about what Jeffrey Mullins told police.

Attempts to interview Jeffrey Mullins were unsuccessful.