A mother from Ohio is facing a murder charge after allegedly throwing her 6-year-old into a river and killing him.
Brittany Gosney, 29, of Middletown, reported her son James Robert Hutchinson missing last month according to the Middletown Division of Police.
Middletown police said in a Twitter post, “We have a missing 6-year-old named James. He is was last seen in the area of Crawford St. He is a white male, 3′ tall, 42 lbs. He has dark blond/reddish hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a red shirt with blue and red Batman pajama pants. If you see him, call 911.”
Police, volunteers and organized search teams quickly began looking for the boy.
And just three hours later, Middletown police updated the post saying, “We are no longer looking in the Crawford Street area. New information has led us outside the city limits. Thank you for your assistance.”
Police stopped looking as upon further questioning, Gosney and her boyfriend, James Hamilton, 42, told investigators that the boy was killed in Preble County a few days before he was reported missing, Middletown Police say in the statement.
“The child’s body was brought back to Middletown, where they live, and later put into the Ohio River,” the statement says.
Court documents obtained by WLWT say Gosney admitted to bringing her 6-year-old son to Rush Run Park in Preble County.
She allegedly told investigators she was going to leave him at the park. But when he tried to get back into the car, she allegedly drove off, “dragging him for a distance at a high rate of speed,” the documents state, according to the outlet.
When she returned 30 to 40 minutes later, she found him in the middle of the road with a head injury.
When she found the boy lying in the road, she informed authorities she thought he was dead, according to the documents.
Gosney allegedly said she put her son in her car and drove him to a home on Crawford Lane where she placed him in the upstairs bedroom.
And the next day, she told police she drove to the Ohio River and dumped his body in the water.
Gosney was arrested and is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence. Hamilton was also arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
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Currently, they are being held in the Middletown jail.
The statement also says that two other children in the household have been removed from the residence.
In the interim, Middletown police will be working with trained searchers to attempt to recover James’s body.
“The river is very high and treacherous, so we will not be disclosing the exact location in hopes of avoiding another tragic incident,” the statement says.
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