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A 7-year-old boy’s mother and two co-parents were charged with murder in Ohio after his grandparents hired a private investigator over concerns the child was being abused, according to reports.
Cincinnati police said Kaitlin Evans, 38, and her co-parents, Kirby Rankin, 33, and Nessa Keaney, 23, have all pleaded not guilty to murdering 7-year-old William Evans.
The Hamilton County jail and Municipal Court databases list Rankin’s sex as male, while Cincinnati police identify Rankin as female.
911 and police-dispatch records trace the response from a Mercy Rookwood emergency room to a Cincinnati apartment, where officers ultimately found William bound in a closet and unresponsive.
The sequence began when a charge nurse called 911 to report that a barefoot woman had entered the emergency department, dropped to the floor and said someone was trying to kill her and had taken her son.
The nurse told the dispatcher the woman claimed her son was being held in the attic of a nearby apartment.
FOX19 NOW reported that the woman identified herself as William’s mother and named Rankin as the partner she accused of trying to kill her and taking the boy.
Police were sent to the hospital and the apartment for a welfare check, according to radio traffic and computer-aided dispatch records. An officer reported that a juvenile boy was in a closet and "not moving."
A dispatch entry also stated that a child was "found tied up in closet." Dispatchers then asked fire personnel to expedite their response, records show.
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Cincinnati police said officers found William unresponsive inside the residence and that Cincinnati Fire Department personnel determined he was dead.
FOX19 NOW reported that Cincinnati homicide Detective Kyle Smith testified in court on Friday that William had been severely beaten over the previous two months, calling the case "probably one of the most disturbing cases of child abuse" he had encountered during decades in law enforcement.
Smith told the judge investigators believe William was held underwater for a prolonged period. He also said Rankin disclosed her involvement in what he described as a prolonged child-abuse incident and implicated Evans and Keaney as active participants.
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Rankin’s attorney sought a competency evaluation, citing what the attorney described as serious mental health issues.
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William’s grandparents, Mike Evans and Tina Evans, told WLWT they feared their grandson’s home had become a "house of horrors."
The grandparents said William, who regularly spent Fridays and many Saturdays with them, told them about six weeks before his death that he did not want to return home.
They said Kaitlin later restricted their contact with William. Mike and Tina said they saw him once during the final six weeks of his life and noticed a bruise on his shoulder. That visit, nearly four weeks before William’s death, was the last time they saw him.
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Mike and Tina said they met with an attorney alongside William’s other grandparents and hired a private investigator to monitor Kaitlin and William. Mike said relatives feared both William and Kaitlin were being abused.
He said he rented a car Thursday intending to watch the home but arrived to find police vehicles outside. A detective then told Mike that William had died and Kaitlin was being questioned downtown.
The Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit is investigating.
