DAYTON — The case of Hershall Creachbaum has gotten the attention of Ohio’s governor.
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“I have concerns every time we see a child die, and certainly die under these circumstances,” Gov. Mike DeWine said.
DeWine provided new details to the I-Team about an open investigation by the Department of Children and Youth.
“An investigation that does involve Montgomery County Children’s Services, and it does involve Clark County Children Services,” he confirmed.
It’s a probe that the I-team first reported last week.
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A series of ongoing I-Team investigations has found Hershall’s grandmother had guardianship of him through the Clark County probate court up until mid-May.
Hershall started living with his mom and her boyfriend in Dayton after his grandma was in a bad car crash in November.
His grandmother told the I-Team that Clark County Children Services checked on Hershall at the home in Dayton in April.
Several people have told the I-Team they called Montgomery County Children Services with concerns about Hershall’s welfare.
DeWine told the I-Team that state investigators have questions.
“Questions we all would want to know. What happened? What’s the chronology? Who had contact? When did they have contact? What did they do after they had contact? What did they know? When did they know it? How did they react to it?” DeWine said.
As they work to try and lessen the chance that something like this happens again.
“You may come back and say, ‘Look, they did everything right.’ It’s just, this is a horrible, horrible tragedy. May come back (and say) there were some mistakes made. We just never know until we get into it and see,” DeWine said.
News Center 7 reached out to Clark and Montgomery County.
Clark County said “no comment as this remains an active investigation.”
Montgomery County referred to a statement they first sent News Center 7 nearly two weeks ago that said, “While this tragedy did not fall under our jurisdiction, we join the community in mourning this loss.”
We will continue to follow this story.
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