Ohio Mother And Co-Parents Charged In Murder Of Boy

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

A seven-year-old boy's mother and two co-parents face murder charges in Ohio. The situation came to a head after his grandparents hired a private investigator because they feared the child was being abused. Reports confirm that Cincinnati police have issued those charges against Kaitlin Evans, 38, along with her co-parents Kirby Rankin, 33, and Nessa Keaney, 23. All three defendants pleaded not guilty to the murder of seven-year-old William Evans.

There is a discrepancy in public records regarding one of the accused. The Hamilton County jail and Municipal Court databases list Kirby Rankin's sex as male, yet Cincinnati police identify Rankin as female. This inconsistency stands out in an otherwise tragic case file.

The events unfolded after a call to 911 triggered a frantic search by police. Dispatch records trace the response from a Mercy Rookwood emergency room directly to a Cincinnati apartment. Officers arrived to find William bound inside a closet and unresponsive. The chain of events started when a charge nurse called for help, reporting that a barefoot woman had entered the hospital floor, collapsed, and claimed someone was trying to kill her while taking her son away.

The nurse told the dispatcher the woman said her son was being kept in the attic of a nearby apartment building. FOX19 NOW reported that this woman identified herself as William's mother. She named Kirby Rankin as the partner she accused of attempting to murder her and stealing the boy. Police were sent straight from the hospital to the apartment for a welfare check, confirmed by both radio traffic and computer-aided dispatch logs. An officer on the scene stated that a juvenile boy was in a closet and "not moving."

Another dispatch entry noted that a child had been found tied up in the closet. Dispatchers immediately asked fire personnel to expedite their arrival to help free him or assess his condition, as records show. Cincinnati police confirmed officers found William unresponsive inside the residence. The Cincinnati Fire Department determined he was dead upon arrival at the scene.

FOX19 NOW also reported that Cincinnati homicide Detective Kyle Smith testified in court on Friday regarding the severity of the situation. Smith stated that William had been severely beaten over the previous two months. He called the case "probably one of the most disturbing cases of child abuse" he had encountered during decades of work in law enforcement. Smith told the judge that investigators believe William was held underwater for a prolonged period. Additionally, Rankin disclosed her involvement in what Smith described as a prolonged incident of child abuse and implicated Evans and Keaney as active participants in those acts.

Rankin's attorney asked for a competency evaluation. The lawyer cited what they described as serious mental health issues affecting the defendant. William's grandparents, Mike Evans and Tina Evans, spoke to WLWT about their terror before his death. They told reporters they feared their grandson's home had become a "house of horrors."

The parents said William regularly spent Fridays and many Saturdays with them. He told them six weeks before he died that he did not want to return home. Mike and Tina said Kaitlin later restricted their contact with him entirely. They saw him once during the final six weeks of his life but noticed a bruise on his shoulder. That visit, which happened nearly four weeks before William's death, was the last time they ever saw him.

Mike and Tina said they met with an attorney alongside William's other grandparents to hire a private investigator who could monitor Kaitlin and William. Mike explained that relatives feared both William and Kaitlin were being abused. He said he rented a car on Thursday intending to watch the home but arrived to find police vehicles outside. A detective then told Mike that William had died and that Kaitlin was being questioned downtown.

The Cincinnati Police Department's Homicide Unit is currently investigating the case.