DAYTON — The man who called 911 to report that a 7-year-old non-verbal autistic boy was missing last year has a new request for the judge.
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As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, police discovered Hershall Creachbaum’s remains hours after Michael Kendrick made the emergency call.
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Now, Kendrick is asking for his initial interactions with police to be thrown out.
He was living with Hershall’s mother, Ashley Johnson, last July in a home on Xenia Avenue.
He referred to the young boy as his stepson and called 911, claiming he was missing and kidnapped.
When officers arrived on scene around 4 a.m., they found Kendrick shirtless, outside the home.
Body camera footage shown in the courtroom captures the interaction.
Kendrick tells officers to go inside and search for Hershall. At that time, they find and talk to his mother, Johnson.
“Where would he go if he left? Where would he go right now?” an officer asks.
“I wouldn’t know that,” Kendrick replies.
Officers and detectives testified that he appeared to be intoxicated but did answer some questions.
He also hinted that a homeless man hit him, distracted him, and left with Hershall and his wheelchair.
“... always begging, he comes here all the time,” Kendrick said.
Officers were able to find nearby surveillance videos and review the footage.
“When viewing that video, did the video match up with Mr. Kendrick’s statement?” Kendrick’s lawyer, Michael Pentecost, asked.
“It did not,” Dayton Police Sergeant Tyler Hofacker said.
Kendrick was put in the back of a police cruiser, but his lawyers claim they didn’t tell him that he was a suspect at that point.
And while he was in the cruiser, you had a conversation with him?” Pentecost asked.
“Yes,” Hofacker said.
“And you did not read him any Miranda Rights?” Pentecost added.
“I did not,” Hofacker said.
Kendrick’s lawyers also claimed anything he said then should be discounted, since he was intoxicated.
“You were aware that he drank while officers were there on the scene?” Pentecost asked.
“I wasn’t aware of it at that time. I later learned about it, yes,” Hofacker replied.
As previously reported by News Center 7, Kendrick is facing three counts of gross abuse of a corpse and two counts of tampering with evidence.
The judge asked both sides to submit written arguments to him in a couple of weeks while he reviews all the video footage.
He will then decide what can and cannot be used in a trial.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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