A 7-year-old Cincinnati boy died from blunt force trauma to the head
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Hamilton County Coroner Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco ruled the death of 7-year-old William Michael Evans in an Oakley home a homicide
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Friday, the child’s mother, Kaitlin Evans, 38, along with two others, was charged with murder and child endangering in what a veteran homicide detective testified in court was “the most disturbing” example of child abuse he had ever witnessed in his 21 years on the police force.
The three suspects are Kaitlin Evans, 38, Nessa Keaney, 23, and Kirby Rankin, 33.
Prosecutors say the three defendants lived together and co-parented William.
William Evans, 7, was found dead inside a home on Madison Road in Oakley on Thursday, and police say he had been duct-taped and put in a closet.
The 7-year-old boy was found shortly after 1:30 p.m. Aug. 6 in an Oakley apartment on Madison Road.
Police arrived at the home after a distressing call came into 911.
Police went to the home on Madison Road around 1 p.m. Thursday after Kaitlin showed up at a nearby urgent care. She claimed someone was trying to kill her and her son had been kidnapped.
Homicide detective Kyle Smith described his reaction to finding the child.
“In my 21 years of law enforcement experience, this is probably one of the most disturbing examples of child abuse that I’ve witnessed: physical beatings and blunt force injuries from striking devices on the face, torso, back, and upper and lower extremities,” he said.
“We believe the victim was choked underwater, held underwater for a long period of time. There was some burn torture involved, and the victim was found with duct tape in positions that immobilized him,” he said.
The coroner said, “[I] opened the closet door, and just froze for a while.”
Evans-Ellis had injuries to several areas of his head, according to the coroner. He also had a broken bone and “too many bruises to count,” she added.
Evans-Ellis also had a couple of marks that might have been burn marks, the coroner said.
The boy’s other biological parent spoke to the court during Friday’s arraignment.
“Willie was my life. I trusted you to care for him,” sobbed the biological parent who was not charged. “They kept him from me for the past nine months over lies.”
Evans’ defense attorney Brandon Fox argued a different characterization of her role.
“She just lost her child,” Evans’ defense attorney, Brandon Fox, argued in court, contending that evidence will show another individual actually caused the child’s death.
The detective told the court that Rankin did disclose her own involvement in the “prolonged child abuse incident” but implicated Evans and Keaney as being “active participants.”
Keaney’s attorney likewise reportedly argued that his client was “the least culpable” of the three women, claiming she had even attempted to treat some of William’s injuries.
The boy’s grandparents said they had grown deeply concerned about his safety in the months before his death.
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.
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.
They said Kaitlin later restricted their contact with William.
William’s family expressed their grief following his death.
“The pain of losing such a sweet, beautiful, innocent child is beyond description. We will love and miss him forever,” the family said.
William Evans’ grandparents hired a private investigator after fearing abuse, but police found the 7-year-old bound in a closet and unresponsive.
In the viral moment that led to the discovery,
a hospital supervisor told a 911 dispatcher that William Evans’ mother said her partner had tried to kill her and kidnapped her son before police found the 7-year-old bound in duct tape and dead inside a closet.
When officers arrived and entered the home, they made the grim discovery inside the bedroom closet.
When police went inside the home, they found her son dead and duct-taped in a closet.
Inside a bedroom closet, Evans-Ellis’s body was found, bound by tape. Enough tape, the coroner said, that would have prevented him from escaping.
The coroner said the room where the body was found contained toys but no photographs of the child.
Dr. Sammarco said the Madison Road home was filled with toys; she even had to walk through a room full of LEGOS to get to the bedroom where Evans-Ellis had been found. She did mention there were no photos of the young boy that she saw in the house.
All three have pleaded not guilty and are being held on $1.1 million bonds.
William’s Nonna, Tina, hopes to honor his memory by establishing a foundation in his name—one that carries forward the love, kindness, and light William brought into the lives of those around him.
They all pleaded not guilty and are expected to return to court later this month.