Defendants in Takoda Collins death case now in Ohio prisons
The defendants in cases connected to the death of 10-year-old Takoda Collins have been transported out of the Montgomery County Jail and into the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, according to online records.
Al-Mutahan McLean, who pleaded guilty to murder, rape, kidnapping and endangering children and was sentenced in September to 51 years to life, was admitted into the Correction Reception Center on Nov. 1, according to the Ohio offender search.
The online resource says that he won’t get a parole board hearing until October 2070.
Meanwhile, Amanda Hinze and Jennifer Ebert are incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women and have been there since Oct. 22. Hinze was sentenced to prison for at least 22 years, and Ebert was issued at least an eight-year sentence. The women could face more time behind bars, depending on their behavior while in custody.
McLean and Hinze have also filed appeals with the Ohio Second District Court of Appeals. A document describing what they are appealing has not been filed.
The three suspects had spent more than a year in the Montgomery County Jail as authorities investigated and prosecuted them for the 2019 death of Takoda Collins.
Prosecutors said Takoda lived in hellish conditions for years, being beaten, locked in an attic and forced to stand in painful “punishment poses” for long hours. Prosecutors said a doctor who examined Takoda after he died said the boy’s bruising was the type of injury typically observed in catastrophic events like a severe car accident. Another doctor found that Takoda was battered from head to toe with hundreds of lacerations and abrasions to his head, face, mouth, neck and other areas of his body.
In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors said Takoda was punched, elbowed and stood on in the hours leading up to his death.
“Still not satisfied that Takoda was sufficiently compliant, defendant Mclean threw the child around some more, and grabbed him by the ears, and dragged him down the steps,” the memorandum says. “Defendant took the child into the bathroom and told him to clean his shorts, when Takoda again did not move fast enough, he was told to move faster or he was going to be drowned. Defendant ( Jennifer) Ebert, from the living room, then heard splashing and Takoda gasping for air.”
The horrific case and a Dayton Daily News investigation that followed led to a number of changes at the local level and the introduction of state legislation. There’s been a 30% increase in the number of cases being referred from Children’s Services to the prosecutor’s office.
Dayton police also changed how it conducts children welfare checks and Ohio Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Butler Twp., introduced a bill that seeks to reform the way county children’s services operate.
That bill has passed the house and remains in a Senate committee.