Mom, 2 co-parents arrested in boys murder after grandparents hire PI to probe house of horrors

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A 7-year-old boys mother and two co-parents were charged with murder in Ohio after his grandparents hired a private investigator over concerns the child was being abused, according to reports.

Cincinnati police said Kaitlin Evans, 38, and her co-parents, Kirby Rankin, 33, and Nessa Keaney, 23, have all pleaded not guilty to murdering 7-year-old William Evans.

The Hamilton County jail and Municipal Court databases list Rankins sex as male, while Cincinnati police identify Rankin as female.

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911 and police-dispatch records trace the response from a Mercy Rookwood emergency room to a Cincinnati apartment, where officers ultimately found William bound in a closet and unresponsive.

The sequence began when a charge nurse called 911 to report that a barefoot woman had entered the emergency department, dropped to the floor and said someone was trying to kill her and had taken her son.

The nurse told the dispatcher the woman claimed her son was being held in the attic of a nearby apartment.

FOX19 NOW reported that the woman identified herself as Williams mother and named Rankin as the partner she accused of trying to kill her and taking the boy.

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Police were sent to the hospital and the apartment for a welfare check, according to radio traffic and computer-aided dispatch records. An officer reported that a juvenile boy was in a closet and "not moving."

A dispatch entry also stated that a child was "found tied up in closet." Dispatchers then asked fire personnel to expedite their response, records show.

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Cincinnati police said officers found William unresponsive inside the residence and that Cincinnati Fire Department personnel determined he was dead.

FOX19 NOW reported that Cincinnati homicide Detective Kyle Smith testified in court on Friday that William had been severely beaten over the previous two months, calling the case "probably one of the most disturbing cases of child abuse" he had encountered during decades in law enforcement.

Smith told the judge investigators believe William was held underwater for a prolonged period. He also said Rankin disclosed her involvement in what he described as a prolonged child-abuse incident and implicated Evans and Keaney as active participants.

Rankins attorney sought a competency evaluation, citing what the attorney described as serious mental health issues.

Williams grandparents, Mike Evans and Tina Evans, told WLWT