An Ohio mother who, according to police, tried to abandon her 6-year-old son in a local park, dragged him down the sidewalk when he tried to get back in the car, and the next day threw the boy’s lifeless body into a river , confessed to killing the child, but showed little remorse, the Middletown police chief revealed on Monday.
Brittany Gosney, 29, is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Police say Gosney’s other two children – both in second grade – were in the car at the time of the murder, but were not injured. They have since been placed in an orphanage, according to authorities.
“It really touched my soul and my heart,” said police chief David Birk at a news conference on Monday. “My kids are older, but my youngest is 16, but I’m sitting there, you know, the six-year-old has no idea what’s going on and what’s going on, and for other kids to go through it too. It is heartbreaking. “
Birk said that Gosney indicated that she planned to abandon the other two as well. Gosney is said to have lost custody of a fourth child who has been in state care since before the murder of his 6-year-old son.
An arrest report provided to The Daily Beast by Middletown police says that Gosney “admitted to taking his son, James Robert Hutchinson, to Rush Run Park in Preble County, where he put him out of his vehicle.” After forcing him to get out of the car, Gosney told Detective John Hoover that the boy “tried to get back in the vehicle and she got out at high speed, dragging the child a distance. The defendant then left the park and returned about 30 to 40 minutes later, finding the child in the middle of the parking lot with a head injury ”.
Gosney then took his son’s remains home and placed the body in an upstairs room.
“The next day, she drove to the Ohio River and threw the child’s body into the river,” says the report.
Gosney’s boyfriend, James Russell Hamilton, 42, is accused of helping Gosney to dump his son’s body after the fact. He is facing charges of abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. The bail for Gosney was set at $ 1 million in cash; Hamilton’s was set at $ 105,000. Both remain in custody, Middletown Police Department spokesman Shelby Quinlivan told The Daily Beast.
Gosney and Hamilton showed up at the police station around 10:15 am on Sunday to report their son’s disappearance, Birk said. He felt that something was wrong from the start, because the two could not understand their stories. Birk described the situation as “just red flags everywhere”,
A few hours later, the two would have confessed. The child’s body has not yet been recovered.
“I am so heartbroken that I don’t care if I had a million dollars that I would not take it away, but he is involved more than what is being said that he should receive the same,” posted a man identified as Gosney’s stepfather in his Facebook page on Monday.
In a letter to the families of the children at Rosa Parks Elementary School, where James Hutchinson attended first grade, Principal Tracy Neely wrote: “We are all mourning the loss of our friend James today. James was a happy and happy soul who loved school. On the days he was in class, he would give hugs to all the teachers when he entered the school. A fun memory I have is the way his face lit up when he won the lucky lunch tray! First graders can find joy in almost anything. I will always remember your brilliant joy. “
The school will celebrate James Hutchinson’s life at 6:45 pm on Tuesday. Gosney and Hamilton are back in court on March 8.