Brittany Gosney, 29, has been charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence of the death of her son James Hutchinson.
Her boyfriend, James Hamilton, 42, was accused of abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence. Both were indicted in Middletown Court on Monday afternoon, are on bail and will remain in Middletown Jail until the next hearing, said David Birk, head of the Middletown Police Division.
Meanwhile, police in Middletown are working with officials from Preble and Butler counties and researchers trained to recover the child’s body, Birk said.
“The water is extremely high, making our search and rescue very difficult,” said the chief. “With the water and the current and the rain we had on Saturday night, it is extremely difficult to really find anything. So we are doing the best we can when it comes to search and recovery.”
According to police, Gosney reported James’ disappearance to Middletown police on Sunday morning, saying the boy had been missing since Saturday night. A search for the child has started, Birk said.
“It was a little unusual, because usually when you have a missing child, the first thing to do as parents is to contact the police,” said Birk.
But under interrogation, Gosney and Hamilton reportedly told detectives that James was killed in Preble County “a few days” ago, according to a statement from Birk.
“The mother is not showing much remorse at the moment,” said Birk. “She’s not really saying, you know, what the reason was.”
Gosney took James and two other children from the house to the Rush Run wildlife area in Preble County and would drop them off, Birk said. It is not clear what happened between her attempting to leave them and when James died; however, Birk said, the mother later took the boy’s body back to his home in Middletown.
Sometime on Saturday night, when the other two children were asleep, the couple allegedly took the body and threw it into the Ohio River in Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
Birk said child welfare officials have been involved with the family in the past, but gave no further details. The other two children were removed from the residence and are now in an orphanage, added the chief.