A woman has been arrested and charged in connection with the deaths of two girls whose bodies were discovered inside suitcases and buried in shallow graves, authorities in Cleveland said on March 5.
Aliyah Henderson, 28, was charged with murder and endangering children, according to records from the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office. Henderson was booked on March 4, days after authorities found the remains of two young girls at an Ohio park.
In a statement to USA TODAY, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the victims as Amor Wilson, 10, and Mila Chatman, 8. The children, both from Cleveland, were identified through DNA relationship testing.
Their cause of death is still pending, the office added.
“These were two young lives with their entire futures ahead of them,” said Cleveland Division of Police Chief Dorothy Todd in a statement on March 5. “Our detectives worked tirelessly and with great care to identify those responsible.
The relationship between the people involved in the incident was not immediately known.
Suitcases and graves
At about 6 p.m. local time on Monday, March 2, police officers responded to a report of a “suspected deceased individual” discovered inside a suitcase at a park on the east side of Cleveland, the Cleveland Division of Police said. Once they arrived at the scene, officers discovered a dead body in a suitcase.
During the investigation, detectives found a second body in a separate suitcase at a shallow grave nearby, authorities said. Both victims were later transported to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Within less than 48 hours after the discovery, authorities conducted a search warrant and “detained a person of interest” and recovered “substantial evidence related to the case,” the Cleveland Division of Police said in a statement. A child was found inside the home during the search and was “in good health,” authorities said.
The child is being supervised by the Department of Children and Family Services, authorities said. The investigation remains ongoing.
‘It’s very much horrible’
In a news conference earlier in the week, Todd said a dog walker reported the incident and that the bodies were found in a field located in a residential neighborhood near a school, where a lot of people frequent. Todd did not say how long the girls had been there.
DeShaun Chatman told CBS News on March 5 that he was searching for his daughter, Mila, and pursued custody for five years before authorities notified him of her death. According to Chatman, he sought emergency custody and tried locating Mila through a child welfare agency.
“It’s very much horrible,” Chatman told the news organization, adding he felt “useless — I couldn’t save my baby.”
“Mila was happy-go-lucky, always smiling,” Chatman remembered, CBS News reported. “Favorite color was pink — she swore that she was a princess. She was always happy. She was a kid’s kid.”
Contributing: Charles Ventura, USA TODAY
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia, – the 757. Email her at [email protected].
