Ohio boy’s murder case follows family fears

The murder case involving William Evans began with a private investigator and ended with police finding the seven-year-old bound in a closet in Cincinnati, according to investigators and court testimony. His mother, Kaitlin Evans, 38, and her co-parents, Kirby Rankin, 33, and Nessa Keaney, 23, have all pleaded not guilty in the case, while Cincinnati police and court records reflect different sex listings for Rankin.

Emergency and police-dispatch records show the chain of events started when a charge nurse at Mercy Rookwood called 911 after a barefoot woman came into the emergency room, dropped to the floor and said someone was trying to kill her and had taken her son. The nurse told dispatchers that the woman said her son was being held in the attic of a nearby apartment. FOX19 NOW reported that the woman identified herself as William’s mother and named Rankin as the partner she accused of trying to kill her and taking the child.

Police were sent to the hospital and the apartment for a welfare check. Radio traffic and dispatch entries then pointed officers to a juvenile boy in a closet who was not moving, with one record stating the child was found tied up in the closet. Fire crews were asked to speed up their response. Cincinnati police later said officers found William unresponsive inside the residence, and Cincinnati Fire Department personnel determined he had died.

In court on Friday, Cincinnati homicide Detective Kyle Smith testified that William had been severely beaten during the prior two months. FOX19 NOW reported that Smith described it as one of the most disturbing child-abuse cases he had seen in decades in law enforcement. Smith also said investigators believe William was held underwater for an extended period. He told the judge that Rankin disclosed involvement in what he called a prolonged abuse incident and implicated Evans and Keaney as active participants.