Mother Pleads Not Guilty to Killing Girls Found in Suitcases
DeShaun Chatman via AP
Aliyah Henderson has entered a plea of not guilty in connection with the deaths of her two daughters, whose bodies were discovered earlier this month buried inside suitcases in Cleveland.
During a court hearing Thursday, a victims’ advocate told the judge that the fathers of the girls—8-year-old Mila Chatman and 10-year-old Amor Wilson—asked that Henderson be held on the highest bond possible. According to the advocate, they expressed concern because Henderson has previously avoided detection by frequently moving and keeping her location unknown. The judge decided to keep Henderson’s bond set at $2 million. The 28-year-old faces several charges, including multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, and gross abuse of a corpse.
Henderson was taken into custody on March 4. Her arrest came two days after a man walking his dog in a field discovered suitcases containing the girls’ remains. Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said a 6-year-old boy found at Henderson’s home appeared healthy. The child has since been placed under the care of the Department of Child and Family Services.
Earlier in the case, authorities announced that Henderson had been charged with two counts of murder related to the deaths of Mila Chatman and Amor Wilson. The remains of the girls were found after the dog walker alerted authorities to the suspicious suitcases in the field. Police later carried out a search warrant at a house near where the suitcases were located, leading to Henderson’s arrest.
Family members later confirmed the identities of the victims. DeShaun Chatman said investigators informed him that his daughter Mila’s body had been recovered from a field near Ginn Academy in Cleveland’s South Collinwood neighborhood. Nichelle Wilson confirmed that the second child was her granddaughter, Amor Wilson. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office later verified the girls’ identities through DNA testing and confirmed that they were half-sisters.
Chatman said he had spent years trying to find his daughter. According to him, he attempted to gain emergency custody five different times and sought help from a child welfare agency, but those efforts failed because he did not know where Mila and her mother were living.
He said the last time he saw Mila was in 2020, when she was three years old. Chatman described his daughter as cheerful and full of energy, saying she loved the color pink and believed she was a princess. He also said investigators have not yet explained how the girls died but expects more information to be released soon.
Police Chief Dorothy Todd previously said authorities were still trying to determine the cause of death. She described the situation as tragic and said investigators hope the ongoing investigation will provide answers.
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