Trigger Warning: This article contains references to alleged child abuse that some readers may find distressing.

A developmentally disabled seven-year-old boy was found dead in an Ohio apartment closet. The three women, including his mother and her two trans lovers, who shared a home with him, are now facing murder and child endangerment charges in what a veteran officer described as “one of the most disturbing examples of child abuse.”

Police officers from Cincinnati and Norwood responded to a home in the Oakley neighborhood at around 1 p.m. on Thursday, August 6, after a disturbance call.

According to FOX19 NOW, the call actually started elsewhere. A hospital charge nurse had dialed 911 after a barefoot woman collapsed on the floor of an emergency department, claiming her partner was trying to kill her and had taken her son. She was accusing her partner, Kirby Rankin.

When officers arrived, they found William Evans unresponsive, and he was later pronounced dead. According to police, he’d been bound with duct tape and left inside a closet.

William’s mother, Kaitlin Evans, 38, Nessa Keaney, 23, and Kirby Rankin, 33, were all arrested and charged with murder and child endangerment. Police say the three women were living together in the apartment and co-parenting William.

At arraignment in Hamilton County Municipal Court on Friday, Cincinnati homicide detective Kyle Smith, a 21-year veteran, told the court that this was “probably one of the most disturbing examples of child abuse” that he’s encountered.

 

He described injuries consistent with repeated beatings, including “blunt force injuries from a striking device on the face, torso, back, upper and lower extremities,” along with what investigators believe was prolonged submersion underwater and burn injuries. “We believe the victim was choked underwater, held underwater for a long period of time. There was also some burn torture involved,” he alleged.

Smith also testified that the day before William died, the three women left him alone at home to take a dog to the veterinarian. Rankin reportedly told officers she was involved in the abuse and implicated Evans and Keaney as active participants. Moreover, a Hamilton County judge has ordered a competency evaluation for Rankin, citing documented mental health issues.

All three pleaded not guilty, with bond set at $1.1 million each.

Mike and Tina Evans, William’s grandparents, told WLWT they feared the home had become a “house of horrors.” William usually spent Fridays and many Saturdays with them and about six weeks before his death, he told them he didn’t want to go back home. Not long after, they said, Kaitlin cut off their contact with him. The last time when they saw him, which was about four weeks before he died, he had a bruise on his shoulder.

Concerned, they hired an attorney and a private investigator just days before his death. Mike said he rented a car to stake out the home on Thursday; however, he witnessed police cars outside the building.

“The detective came over and told us the situation, and so he said, William died, and I said, ‘Well, what about Katelin?’ And he said, ‘She’s downtown being questioned,’” Mike told WLWT.

The investigation remains ongoing, with police saying additional charges are possible pending William’s autopsy and witness interviews.

Disclaimer: Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available.