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

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CLEVELAND (AP) — The mother of two young girls found buried inside suitcases in Cleveland was charged Thursday with two counts of aggravated 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.

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

Chatman said he repeatedly sought emergency custody 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 where their bodies were found. 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 found about 25 feet (8 meters) apart in the field near Ginn Academy in Cleveland’s South Collinwood neighborhood.

The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the names late Thursday and said DNA relationship testing helped identify them. The office said Mila would have been 8 years old and her half-sister Amor 10.

Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz said earlier Thursday that police detained Henderson on Wednesday evening after detectives completed initial interviews and examined evidence. A child, seemingly in good health, was located inside a house that investigators searched and placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services, police said.

Chatman, a restaurant cook, 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.

“We are hoping to find answers,” Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd told reporters earlier this week. “This is a terrible, tragic situation.”

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Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.