An Ohio mother and her boyfriend are now facing formal charges in connection with the death of her young son, whose body was dumped in a river and has not yet been found, WHIO-TV reports.
A grand jury on Friday indicted 29-year-old Brittany Gosney and 42-year-old James Hamilton following the death of 6-year-old James Hutchinson in late February.
The grand jury levied 16 charges against Gosney, of Middleton, Ohio, including murder, involuntary manslaughter, kidnapping, child endangering, gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
Hamilton is facing 15 charges, which include kidnapping, abduction, gross abuse of a corpse, child endangering and tampering with evidence.
Investigators believe that on February 27, Gosney attempted to abandon Hutchinson and two other children at a wildlife area in Preble County, Ohio.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, police documents show that Hutchinson attempted to grab onto Gosney’s minivan as she was leaving, but the boy was run over or dragged and may have sustained head injuries.
Gosney told police that she checked on the boy and found him dead, and then brought him and the two other children back home.
The following day, Gosney and Hamilton drove to Lawrenceburg, Ohio, and dumped the boy’s body into the Ohio River. Several hours later, the couple attempted to report the boy missing, but Gosney later confessed that she had killed the child.
Gosney told police that Hamilton had been pressuring her to “get rid of” her children, according to a police report.
Authorities have not yet recovered Hutchinson’s body. The search has been suspended because water levels on the Ohio River have been above flood stage for much of the past week. Crews are expected to resume the search Sunday in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
A fund has been established to help support Hutchinson’s two surviving siblings, Rachel and Lucas. Donations to the “James You Are Loved Memorial Fund” can be made online through PayPal or by mailing a check to Middletown City School District, One Donham Plaza, 4th Floor, Middletown, OH 45042, Attn: James You Are Loved Memorial Fund.
“Every child is deserving of love. As a Middie family, we loved James dearly and we will continue to love Rachel and Lucas. There is hope for a brighter future,” Marlon Styles, Jr., Superintendent of Middletown City School District, said in a news release, according to WDTN-TV.
Gosney remains in custody on a $1 million bond; Hamilton also is behind bars on a $105,000 bond, WKRC-TV reports.
Middleton is located between Cincinnati and Dayton.
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