Parents killing their own children: ‘We will just never understand’
Middletown Police Chief David Birk made a trip to Preble County last week with lunch and a message of support for the sheriff ’s office reeling from an apparent murder-suicide investigation involving a father and his two children.
It has been less than a year since the Preble County Sheriff ’s Office assisted Middletown detectives in an investigation into the death of 6-year-old James Hutchison. He was run over and killed by his mother at a rural park and then dumped into the Ohio River.
“I know what they are going through because they helped us with the James Hutchinson case, and their detectives were great. For an officer and detectives to pull up on a welfare check and see what they saw, it is trying for everyone,” Birk said. “I wanted them to know there are other departments who have been through it, and if they need anything we are here. It is something that is going to stick with those officers forever,” he said.
“Any time you involve kids in a situation, it makes it 100 times worse ... we know.”
Kellie Elliott called the Preble County Sheriff’ Office around 10:30 a.m. Monday to a Greenbush Road residence for a welfare check on her children and estranged husband, Shane Elliott. The couple was in the process of a divorce. Shane did not report
for work and didn’t show to drop off Caleb, 13, and Grace, 10, at their Preble Shawnee schools after they had spent the weekend with him.
When deputies forced entry to the house, they found the 40-year-old father and his children dead in the living room.
There was no sign of a struggle, Simpson said. A handgun was found at the scene, and it appears the father shot his children — then killed himself. Autopsy results will not be back for a few weeks, but Simpson said there is no reason to believe the incident was anything other than a murder-suicide.
He also said detectives believe the children were killed while sleeping.
“It works on you, “Simpson said of a crime people cannot wrap their head around. “Sometimes you just get to the point that you know you have to get through it and do what you have to do then figure out a way to decompress.”
In a small, close knit community and a rural school district, Simpson said, “everyone knows everybody and their kids. The shock of hearing what occurred really hits people.”
Why do parents kill their children?
Simpson and Birk, law enforcement veterans, say when people ask how a parent can kill a child, there is just no answer — because most can’t fathom the crime.
“There never really is a good reason that I have heard, “Birk said. “We will just never understand.”
But accusations or convictions that parents were involved in their children’s deaths have happened more often than some might realize.
Butler County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer said he has been involved in child death cases throughout his entire career.
“Really there have been more than you think,” Dwyer said. “… But 20 or 30 years ago and longer you just didn’t hear about it instantly.”
What hasn’t changed is the effect child death homicide cases have on investigators, which has led Dwyer to send deputies home if they were having trouble dealing with a tragic scene, he said.
“It stays with you. It’s ingrained in your memory,” Dwyer said. “It is usually younger officers. There is a time to grieve and a time to do your job, but it can be very hard at the time.”
Here is a look at some other Ohio cases of note involving parents accused in their children’s deaths:
Brittany Gosney
Last February, Brittany Gosney loaded Hutchinson, a Rosa Parks Elementary first-grader, in a van, drove away from her Middletown home she shared with her boyfriend and drove to a rural Preble County park.
Last February, Brittany Gosney loaded Hutchinson, a Rosa Parks Elementary first-grader, in a van, drove away from the Middletown home she shared with her boyfriend and drove to a rural Preble County park.
Gosney planned to abandon Hutchinson and his two siblings in the dark park in the freezing cold. She put them out of the vehicle. As she began to drive away, Hutchinson clung to the van and was run over.
The boy and his surviving siblings were driven back to the house by the mother, and the body was kept there until Gosney and her boyfriend, James Hamilton, devised a plan to get rid of it. Hours later, they drove the boy’s body to the Ohio River and threw it from a bridge. It has never been found.
It took just minutes for Middletown detectives to determine the duo was not telling the truth on Feb. 28 when they walked into the police station and reported Hutchison missing. Both Gosney and Hamilton confessed to their crimes, which included hog-tying the children and locking them in a closet.
Gosney, 29, pleaded guilty to murder and two counts of felony child endangering for killing Hutchinson and abusing his siblings. She was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 21 years on Sept. 13.
Hamilton, 43, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, two counts of child endangering and gross abuse of a corpse. He was sentenced to the maximum of 19 years. He will be eligible for parole after 15 years, but could serve the maximum depending on his behavior in prison.
Brittany Pilkington
A Bellefontaine woman admitted killing her three sons and was sentenced to 37 years to life in prison in November 2019 after pleading guilty in Logan County Common Pleas Court.
Brittany Pilkington pleaded guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of murder as part of a plea deal.
Pilkington was accused of smothering her three sons, Niall, Gavin and Noah, to death over a 13-month period.
Niall, 3 months, died in July 2014; Gavin, 4, died in April 2015; and Noah, 3 months, died in August 2015.
Pilkington was sentenced to 15 years to life for each count of murder and seven years for involuntary manslaughter.
Cody Colwell
Colwell was indicted by a grand jury in the spring of 2019 for murder, felonious assault and two counts of endangering children following an investigation of the death of an infant, Cayden Colwell, who was found unresponsive in a home in Clearcreek Twp., Warren County, in April 2019.
An examination after the baby’s death revealed Colwell’s 3-year-old stepson also suffered multiple bruises to his body, according to prosecutors.
Colwell pleaded guilty in January 2020 to voluntary manslaughter for his son’s death and felony child endangering for the abuse to the toddler. Judge Timothy Tepe sentenced Colwell to the maximum of 19 to 24 1/2 years in prison. That means he will have to serve the minimum of 19 years and can serve up to 24 1/2 years for any bad behavior in prison.
Anna and Robert Ritchie
Franklin’s Robert Ritchie was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for his part in the scalding death of his 4-year-old in December 2016.
Ritchie’s wife, Anna, placed her stepson, Austin Cooper, in a bathtub where water caused severe burns to the boy before she put him to bed, where he died. Anna Ritchie pleaded guilty to murder.
Prosecutors said Robert Ritchie’s inaction to render the boy any medical aid resulted in the death of his son.
Rebekah Kinner
Madison Twp. mother Kinner pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, permitting child abuse and endangering children for doing nothing to stop her boyfriend, Brad Young, from beating her 2-year-old to death in December 2015.
Kinner was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Young was found guilty of murder and other charges following a jury trial and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Anthony Allen Michael Barton
A Bellefontaine man was given a life sentence in 2015 for beating his 5-year-old son to death.
Barton, 25, submitted an Alford Plea to a charge of murder, meaning he continues to maintain his innocence while acknowledging there is enough evidence to convict him. He maintained that his son, Michael’s death was an accident.
An autopsy by the Franklin County Coroner’s Office in Columbus determined the preliminary cause of death as multiple blunt force head trauma. Barton was accused of beating his son with a plastic rod, killing him.
A Logan County judge sentenced to a mandatory life sentence with the possibility of parole after 15 years.
Brandon Beedy and Caitlyn Heinzen
Springfield parents were sentenced in 2019 to prison in connection to the death of their 21-month-old child.
Beedy and Heinzen were sentenced to eight years in prison by Clark County Common Pleas Judge Douglas Rastatter. The couple previously pleaded guilty to attempted involuntary manslaughter. The eight-year sentence was the maximum the parents could have faced, according to a court document outlining a plea agreement.
The two were charged in connection to 21-monthold Camden Beedy’s death. It was determined by law enforcement that the child had died from dehydration after not being properly cared for. They were originally charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering children but accepted a plea agreement.
Beedy and Heinzen’s legal troubles began on Jan. 12 of that year when Springfield police and EMS were called to a home on the 1900 block of Kenton Street at around 6 p.m. A person who reported the incident to police said the baby was found unresponsive in his crib, according to a police report.
“The baby suffered in that bedroom where he was left alone for what would estimate to be approximately a day,” Clark County Assistant Prosecutor Aaron Heskett said. Heskett said in court that the baby had been dead for hours before anyone noticed.