An Ohio mother who police say tried to leave her 6-year-old son in a local park dragged him down the sidewalk as he tried to get back in the car and threw the boy’s lifeless body into a river the next day , confessed to murdering the child but has shown little regret, the Middletown police chief revealed Monday.
Brittany Gosney, 29, is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Police say Gosney’s two other children – who are both second graders – were in the car at the time of the murder, but were not injured. Authorities say they have since been placed in foster care.
“This really touched my soul and my heart,” police chief David Birk said at a news conference on Monday. “My kids are older, but my youngest is 16, but I’m just sitting there, you know, the poor six-year-old has no idea what’s going on and what’s going on, and the other kids have to go through this too. just heartbreaking. “
Birk said Gosney indicated she also intended to abandon the other two. Gosney reportedly lost custody of a fourth child in the care of the state since the 6-year-old’s murder.
An arrest report provided to The Daily Beast by Middletown Police said Gosney “admitted taking her son, James Robert Hutchinson, to Rush Run Park in Preble County, where she placed him outside her vehicle.” After forcing him out of the car, Gosney told Detective John Hoover that the boy “was trying to get back into the car and she drove off at high speed, dragging the child a long way. The defendant then left the park and returned about 30 to 40 minutes later and found the child in the middle of the parking lot with a head injury. “
Gosney then took her son’s remains home and placed the body in an upstairs bedroom.
The next day she drove to the Ohio River and threw the body of the child into the river, the report says.
Gosney’s boyfriend, James Russell Hamilton, 42, is accused of helping Gosney dispose of her son’s body afterwards. He is charged with abusing a corpse and tampering with evidence. Gosney’s bail 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 arrived at the police station around 10:15 a.m. on Sunday morning to report her son as missing, Birk said. He felt from the start that something was wrong as the two couldn’t get their stories straight. Birk described the situation as ‘just red flags everywhere’,
A few hours later, the two reportedly confessed. The body of the child has not yet been recovered.
“I’m so heartbroken I don’t care if I had a million dollars, I wouldn’t get her out, but he’s more involved than it is said he should get the same,” posted a man who became identified as Gosney’s stepfather on his Facebook page on Monday.
In a letter to families with children at Rosa Parks Elementary School, where James Hutchinson was in first grade, principal Tracy Neely wrote: “Today we all mourn the loss of our friend James. James was a happy and joyful soul who loved school. On the days he was in class, he hugged all of his teachers as he walked to school. A nice memory I have is the way his face lit up when he won the lucky packed lunch! First graders can find the joy in almost anything. I will always remember his radiant joy. “
The school will hold a celebration of life for James Hutchinson on Tuesday at 6:45 PM. Gosney and Hamilton are due to appear in court again on March 8.