The remains of two young girls were discovered hidden in suitcases and buried in shallow graves near a Cleveland school on Monday evening, March 2. The find prompted a homicide probe that has rattled the South Collinwood neighborhood and left officials scrambling to identify the victims.
A local resident walking his dog close to East 162nd Street and Midland Avenue made the disturbing discovery around 6 p.m. after his dog stopped at a dirt mound in Saranac Playground, near Ginn Academy, an all-boys public high school. What Phillip Donaldson found inside the partly buried suitcase shocked investigators.
Donaldson told reporters the dog kept sniffing a pile of dirt and refused to move. On closer inspection, he uncovered a partially buried suitcase, opened it, and saw a child’s head inside. He immediately called 911.
When Cleveland police arrived, they located the first girl’s body in a suitcase buried in a shallow grave. While searching the area near the playground fence line, officers found a second shallow grave containing another suitcase with a second child inside.
Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd addressed the discovery at a press briefing Tuesday, March 3. She confirmed both victims were young Black girls. Their bodies were intact and had not been dismembered.
“It’s just a terrible, horrific situation,” Todd said during the briefing.
The Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office took custody of the remains and said on Wednesday morning, March 4, that preliminary DNA testing indicated the girls were half sisters. At that point, their identities remained unknown, and no local missing-children reports matched their descriptions.
The cause of death has not been determined. Todd said investigators believe the remains had been at the location for some time, though the exact timeline is unclear. Heavy snowfall in the area may have concealed the graves.
The site sits in a residential area near the school, though Todd said the area does not usually see heavy pedestrian traffic. Donaldson said he had only recently started walking his dog there again because of the snow, and it was his dog’s behavior that led to the discovery.
The Cleveland Division of Police sought assistance from multiple agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Child and Family Services. Investigators consulted state and federal partners to check whether the victims matched any missing-children cases outside Cleveland.
A 28-year-old Ohio woman was arraigned Friday morning, March 6, after being formally charged Thursday with two counts of aggravated murder. A Cleveland Municipal Court judge set her bond at $2 million.
The victims were identified as eight-year-old Mila Chatman and 10-year-old Amor Wilson, both from Cleveland.
Cleveland police said detectives executed a search warrant at a home near East 162nd Street and Midland Avenue after canvassing the neighborhood, speaking with witnesses, and reviewing surveillance video.
Another child was located safe inside the residence and placed into the custody of the Department of Child and Family Services.
Ward 10 City Councilman Mike Polensek, a longtime Collinwood resident, told local outlets he has been unable to sleep since learning of the incident. Several families removed their children from Ginn Academy after the news spread.
Neighbor Cheryl Young, who has lived on the street facing the playground for 26 years, said she is shocked and scared. “It’s just frightening to think that something like that has happened that close to where you live,” she said.
Cleveland police set up a 24-hour tip line specifically for this case. Anyone with information can call the Cleveland police homicide unit at 216-623-5464 or submit tips to Crime Stoppers at 216-252-7463.