Aliyah Henderson Pleads Not Guilty To Murdering Her 2 Daugthers
On Thursday, Aliyah Henderson pleaded not guilty to the deaths of her eight and 10-year-old daughters.
NBC News reports that Henderson was charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, murder, endangering children, and offenses against a human corpse. Henderson appeared via video in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and remained silent as the judge read her plea.
Susan Kennedy, a victim’s advocate from the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office, said that the fathers of the two girls requested Henderson be given the “highest bond possible” as she “has a history of staying hidden and moving from place to place throughout the duration of the children’s lives.”
After accepting Henderson’s plea, the judge continued to hold Henderson in jail on a $2 million bond. While Henderson has no other history of violent crimes, an investigation by WJW found that last month, one of her neighbors filed a complaint against her in a stalking case. Should Henderson be found guilty of killing her daughters, she could face a maximum sentence of life in prison and the death penalty.
The city of Cleveland was shocked and understandably horrified when the bodies of 8-year-old Mila Chatman and her half-sibling, 10-year-old Amor Wilson, were found packed in suitcases and buried in a shallow grave. The girls were discovered when Phillip Donaldson, a Cleveland resident, was walking his dog, and she wouldn’t stop sniffing a pile of dirt.
“It was like a pile of dirt, and she stopped to sniff … and she was taking too long,” the man, Phillip Donaldson, told WEWS-TV. “So I went back and looked, and it was a suitcase that was half-buried, and I pulled it up and looked in it, and it was a head. Somebody’s head in it.”
It’s unclear how long the girls were buried, though Donaldson told reporters that the piles of dirt they were found under had been there for at least a week. After the girls were identified as Henderson’s children, law enforcement quickly investigated her home, where they found a six-year-old girl in good health. The child was placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services, and Henderson was ordered to have no contact with the child.
“This tragic case has shocked not just our community but the world. We will vigorously advocate for our victims, Amor and Mila, and our thoughts are with all who loved them. We will hold this heartless monster to account for the torturous homicide of her children,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said in a statement announcing Henderson’s indictment. A medical examiner determined that the girls’ deaths were homicides, but the exact cause of death is still being investigated.
WOIO reports that a funeral was held for Amor and Mila on Wednesday, with hundreds of Cleveland residents attending in purple and pink. “They were princesses, that’s what they loved. As you’ll see today, the colors are purple and pink to signify what they loved being princesses and being adored that way,” Pastor Kyle Earley of City of God Church in Collinwood Community said during the service.
Pastor Earley also released a statement on behalf of the girls’ fathers. “At this time, both fathers, Rashawn Wilson and DeShaun Chatman, and their families are overwhelmed with gratitude for the support they have received from the community. As they continue to grieve, both fathers have worked together and are thankful for those who stepped up to ensure that these babies are laid to rest peacefully.”
In addition to the funeral, a memorial has been set up in the playground where the two girls were found. Henderson is next scheduled to appear in court on April 7 for a pretrial hearing.
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