CLEVELAND
By MARK SCOLFORO and SUE OGROCKIAssociated Press
A Cleveland father says one of the two girls whose remains were found in shallow graves this week is the daughter he’s been trying to find for five years. DeShaun Chatman said Thursday police have told him they recovered the remains of his daughter, Mila Chatman. Police say they expect to charge a 28-year-old woman in the investigation. A police spokesperson said Thursday the woman described as a person of interest was detained after detectives conducted interviews and reviewed evidence. Police recovered the two sets of remains on Monday from a field after a dog walker alerted authorities.
CLEVELAND (AP) — A Cleveland father said Thursday that one of the two girls whose remains were found buried in shallow graves earlier this week was the daughter he had been trying to locate for five years.
DeShaun Chatman said investigators told him late Wednesday night that the body of Mila Chatman, who would have been 8 years old, was recovered from a field near Ginn Academy in the South Collinwood neighborhood. She and the other child had been buried in suitcases.
Chatman said he sought emergency custody five times and had tried to locate Mila through a child welfare agency, but those efforts were unsuccessful because he did not know where they were living. Authorities have not publicly disclosed the names of the two girls.
“It's very much horrible,” Chatman said in an interview near the spot where the children were found. He said it turned out Mila had been living within view of the graves. He said he felt “useless — I couldn't save my baby.”
Cleveland police said Thursday they expected to charge a 28-year-old woman in the investigation. Sgt. Wilfredo Diaz said police detained the woman Wednesday evening after detectives completed initial interviews and examined evidence.
The woman, whose name was not released, is considered a person of interest, Diaz said.
“We are aiming to have her charged later today. However, that's subject to change,” he said.
Chatman said he and Mila's mother were not married but lived together for about a year after their daughter was born. He last saw Mila in 2020, when she was 3 years old.
“Mila was happy-go-lucky, always smiling,” Chatman said. “Favorite color was pink — she swore that she was a princess. She was always happy. She was a kid's kid.”
He said authorities have not told him how the girls died but that he expects more information to come out Monday. Earlier this week, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said she did not know how the girls died.
“We are hoping to find answers,” Todd told reporters. “This is a terrible, tragic situation.”
The children's remains were recovered after a dog walker notified authorities.
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Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Bodies of two girls found buried in suitcases in Cleveland
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