DAYTON — A Dayton mother and her boyfriend are facing formal charges in connection with the death of 7-year-old Hershall Creachbaum, Jr.
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Ashley Johnson, 36, and Michael Kendrick, 39, were both indicted by a Montgomery County grand jury on Monday, the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed.
Kendrick is facing three counts of gross abuse of a corpse and two counts of tampering with evidence.
Johnson is facing one count of obstructing justice.
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As News Center 7 previously reported, Kendrick reported that his girlfriend’s special needs son, Creachbaum, was missing from their home on Xenia Avenue.
“[Kendrick] reported that a homeless man had beaten him to the point he lost consciousness, and when he woke up, the child, his wheelchair, and the homeless man were gone,” the prosecutor’s office reported.
Kendrick, Johnson, and another man were all brought in for interviews with the police.
Police wrote in an affidavit filed in Dayton Municipal Court that they learned Creachbaum was dead after speaking with Johnson.
“She advised that the death took place sometime while she was in the hospital having surgery in late May,” court documents state.
At that time, Creachbaum was in the custody of Kendrick, who allegedly told Johnson he died of natural causes and that he had “disposed of his body in an unknown location by railroad tracks.”
While interviewing Kendrick, police said he admitted to punching the boy in the head twice.
“He then pushed him down, causing him to bounce off the floor and striking other parts of his body,” court documents state, noting Kendrick claimed the boy died the next day in the shower.
Police wrote that Kendrick admitted to keeping Creachbaum’s body in the home “until he started to smell at which time he placed him in a deep freezer.”
“He then took him out, stuffed him into a suitcase and disposed of his body in a grassy field near train tracks. He then after a few weeks went back and recovered the bones. He placed them in a bag and put them in the 100 block of McClure St.” the affidavit states.
The investigation into the cause and manner of Creachbaum’s death is ongoing.
Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck, Jr., called the pair’s actions “beyond despicable.”
“An innocent 7-year-old child died and neither the child’s mother nor her boyfriend reported the death to authorities. Our hope is the Dayton Police Department, and the Montgomery County Coroner, positively identify the remains that were found and determine a cause of death, so that additional charges can be filed,” Heck said.
The pair remains booked in the Montgomery County Jail. Kendrick is being held on a $2 million bond, and Johnson is being held on $250,000 bond.
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