What happened to 7-year-old William Evans is almost impossible to read.

But his name — and what police say was done to him — cannot be buried.

William’s mother, Kaitlin Evans, and two other adults, Nessa Keaney and Kirby Rankin, are now charged with murder and child endangerment in Ohio.

Local 12 reports that investigators described prolonged abuse including beatings, burns, blunt-force injuries across William’s body and repeated periods in which he was allegedly held underwater.

Police say the boy was ultimately found duct-taped inside a closet after Evans called 911 and claimed he needed urgent medical care.

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Cincinnati police detective Kyle Smith, a 21-year veteran, called it one of the most disturbing child-abuse cases he has encountered during more than two decades investigating crimes on the job.

The outlet reports that the alleged abuse left injuries across William’s face, torso, back and extremities, along with impact injuries to his head. Investigators also described burns and repeated periods in which he was allegedly held underwater.

All three defendants lived in the home and were described in court as co-parenting William. Each now faces one count of murder and one count of child endangerment.

Smith testified that police believe the abuse unfolded over a long period rather than during one isolated incident. The detective said the evidence collected inside the home revealed the scope of what William allegedly endured.

Local television reports have referred to all three defendants as women. The official Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office records provide the sex classification, age, booking date and charges entered for each person.

Evans is listed as female, while both Keaney and Rankin are listed as male in their separate official inmate records maintained by the county sheriff’s office after booking on the murder and child-endangerment charges.

Those official jail records identify two of the three defendants as biological men, and all three records show an August 7 booking date following William’s death.

Keaney and Rankin are each listed with a $1 million bond on the murder charge and another $100,000 bond on the child-endangerment charge. The records identify both as 37 years old.

Evans, 27, is also charged with murder and child endangerment. Her inmate record shows the same combined bond amount and confirms she remained in custody.

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The records document the identities, sex classifications, charges and custody status entered by Hamilton County authorities. Keaney and Rankin are both recorded as 37 years old, while Evans is recorded as 27.

All three remained in the Hamilton County Justice Center after their first court appearances. Their cases are listed under separate booking numbers, with the same two criminal charges appearing on each record.

WLWT reports that Cincinnati and Norwood police responded to a Madison Road home in Oakley at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday and found William dead inside the residence.

Investigators say all three defendants lived in the home and were co-parenting the boy before the arrests that followed his death.

According to Local 12, Evans called 911 and claimed William needed urgent care. Officers instead discovered the child inside the closet, where police allege he had been restrained with duct tape.

An attorney for Evans argued in court that the state’s case against her may center on a failure to stop the abuse and claimed another defendant caused William’s death. That is a defense argument, not a finding by the court.

Each defendant is being held on a combined $1.1 million bond. The coroner’s final cause of death remains pending, and the case is expected to go before a grand jury.

Police have not publicly assigned a specific alleged act to each defendant. The filed charges place all three in custody while prosecutors prepare the case for the next stage.

The initial emergency call, the condition in which William was found and the injuries described by investigators now form the heart of a homicide investigation. Authorities have said the inquiry remains active.

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William was seven years old and developmentally disabled. He depended on the adults around him for protection.

If the allegations are proven, those adults subjected a defenseless child to sustained cruelty and left him dead in a closet.

William Evans deserved safety, dignity and a future. May justice be relentless.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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