Mother of 2 girls found in shallow graves in Cleveland charged with murder

Cleveland police say they expect to charge a 28-year-old woman in the investigation into the remains of two girls found buried in suitcases.

6 hrs 28 mins ago

Updated:

18 mins ago

By MARK SCOLFORO and SUE OGROCKI
Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — The mother of two girls found buried inside suitcases in Cleveland was charged Thursday with two counts of murder, police said.

Aliyah Henderson, 28, is accused of killing Mila Chatman and Amor Wilson, whose remains were recovered after a dog walker led authorities to the suitcases four days earlier.

Chatman's father, DeShaun Chatman, said Thursday he had been looking for Mila for five years before investigators told him late Wednesday she was dead.

Chatman said he sought emergency custody five times and had tried to locate Mila through a child welfare agency, but those efforts were unsuccessful because he did not know where they were living.

“It’s very much horrible,” Chatman said, adding that it turned out Mila had been living within view of the graves. He said he felt “useless — I couldn’t save my baby.”

Phone numbers linked to Henderson were no longer hers, and it was unclear if she was represented by a lawyer.

A police case report said the two suitcases were about 25 feet (8 meters) apart in the field near Ginn Academy in Cleveland’s South Collinwood neighborhood. He said Mila would have been 8 years old and Amor was older than her half-sister.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the names late Thursday and said DNA relationship testing helped identify them.

Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz said earlier Thursday that police had detained Henderson Wednesday evening after detectives completed initial interviews and examined evidence.

Chatman said he and Henderson were not married but lived together for about a year after their daughter was born. He last saw Mila in 2020, when she was 3 years old.

“Mila was happy-go-lucky, always smiling,” Chatman said. “Favorite color was pink — she swore that she was a princess. She was always happy. She was a kid's kid.”

He said authorities have not told him how the girls died but that he expects more information to come out Monday. Earlier this week, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said she did not know how the girls died.

“We are hoping to find answers,” Todd told reporters. “This is a terrible, tragic situation.”

The children's remains were recovered after a dog walker notified authorities.

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Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.