ESME KENNEY - 13 yo (2006) - Cincinnati OH

Lisa Kenney paused briefly Monday while staring longingly at the picture before her.

Holding back sobs, she said slowly, "That's my baby – Esme Louise Kenney."

The
emotion of the moment brought tears to the eyes of most observers in
the Hamilton County courtroom of Judge Charles Kubicki Jr.

There was one notable exception.

Anthony Kirkland looked straight ahead and didn't appear to show any sentiment.

He's on trial for allegedly strangling the 13-year-old girl, then partially burning her body.

Graphic photographs introduced into evidence demonstrated for jury members the gruesome nature of the crime.

That's not the way Lisa Kenney wants to remember her daughter.

"Just
precious. So precious. My only child. She was the baby of the family,"
she testified. "Everyone just adored her. She was just so innocent and
so sweet."

So sweet that Lisa admitted being overprotective of the teenager.

"She
had actually never been beyond our mailbox by herself," she said.
Outings normally meant accompaniment by another family member.

That wasn't the case on March 7, 2009, when Esme wanted to jog around the Winton Hills reservoir across from the family's home.

Lisa wanted to get construction dust cleaned from the kitchen, so she said Esme could go by herself.

"It's just across the street," Lisa stated. "I told her just run around once. I wanted her to run her energy off."

Esme left the house. Lisa began cleaning. Nothing would ever be the same again.

All of a sudden, Lisa sat up and sensed something was wrong – very wrong.

Bolting out of the house in bare feet, Lisa ran to the reservoir and was stunned by the first thing she saw.

"A
large pair of new men's pants with a miniblind cord in the pocket,
which I found alarming," she said. "I just got a pit in my stomach when
I saw those."

She also found plastic bags stuffed with clothes and a bottle of beer in the center.

Notified of Esme's disappearance, Kenney family members and friends helped search for her. Police were summoned.

Lisa kept looking, at one point standing just 10 yards from where Esme's body was eventually found.

She didn't hear or see anything. Searches of their house, yard and and a nearby abandoned house came up empty as well.

That's when the first police officers arrived and began to take a report. Lisa said she became concerned about the process.

"As
soon as they heard she was 13 they were like, you know, have you talked
to her friends? Maybe she's with a friend. Maybe she's up at
McDonald's?," she recalled the police saying.

"No, she doesn't
do that," was the reply. "They kept using the word teenager. I mean
they just had a different picture in their mind of who she was."

The
Kenney's sent e-mail blasts to a wide range of friends and neighbors.
Pictures were posted at gas stations near interstates. News stations
were called, but Lisa said they couldn't put anything on the air unless
they got it from police.

Finally, K-9 Officer Jenny Ernst, a
neighbor, arrived and began asking whether Esme was wearing a watch,
had an iPod or was carrying a cell phone.

"It was the first time anyone took me seriously," Lisa said.

Officer
Ernst and fellow K-9 Officer Anthony White began to search the
reservoir area on foot. Suddenly, they came across Anthony Kirkland
sitting underneath some fir trees.

"He said that he was homeless and had been sleeping," Officer Ernst testified.

Officer White noticed a pair of steak knives in one of Kirkland's pants pockets, plus a pocket knife and a Leatherman tool.

Neither was prepared for what they found next.

"In his right front pants pocket there was a purple watch and there was an iPod," Officer Ernst said.

The iPod had Esme Kenney's name engraved inside the case.

The Kenneys were called to the scene and identified the items as belonging to their daughter.

"They were very upset when they saw the property," added Officer Ernst.

Kirkland gave his name as Anthony Palmore and a Social Security number that the officers later determined was fake.

After a helicopter searched the area, Officers Ernst and White got their dogs and renewed their foot search.

Within 25 minutes, Officer White had located Esme's body. She was dead and was only wearing socks and shoes.

Officer William Keuper was called to transport Kirkland to the Criminal Investigation Section for questioning.

Before he did that, Officer Keuper asked Kirkland his name. When Anthony Palmore didn't check out, the officer pressed harder.

"Before
he told me who he was, he said, 'Is there any way we can go see my
Mom?'" Officer Keuper recalled, adding his response was that that
wasn't possible.

"Why do you ask that?" he asked.

"Because I'm about to tell you who I am and I'm probably not going to be able to see her for awhile," he replied.

Kirkland then gave his correct name.

The exchanges with the officers produced the only cross-examinations during the trial.

Defense
attorneys Norm Aubin and Will Welsh asked whether Kirkland was
uncooperative or tried to resist arrest. The answer to both questions
was no.

Back at the Kenney house, Lisa and Tom's sleepless night
was interrupted by a phone call at 3:30 a.m. Her brother-in-law said it
was being reported on television that Esme had been found.

"I
held out hope," Lisa said. "I didn't feel I knew for sure until one of
the assistant chiefs came to the door with a chaplain and that was
about 5:30 a.m. in the morning."

Meanwhile, Kirkland was in police custody and talking nonstop.

Police
said he made recorded statements where he admitted killing Esme Kenney,
Casonya "Sharee" Crawford, Mary Jo Newton and Kimya Rolison.

The
bodies of Crawford, Newton and Rolison had been found in 2006, but the
crimes were unsolved, until this new evidence emerged.

Last week, Kirkland pled guilty in the Newton and Rolison cases.

The
investigation into the Kenney murder continued with an unusual
discovery made near an abandoned building not far from where Esme's
body was found.

"Right beyond it there was a brown top that was
all burned and we knew that Esme had been wearing a brown top," said
Officer Barbara Mirlenbrink, a criminalist with the Cincinnati Police
Department. "So, we realized now we've got a secondary crime scene and
that led into additional articles being discovered."

All the clothing Esme had been wearing when she left her house was found – the brown top, a shirt, panties and her sweatpants

Tuesday begins the playing of the nine hours of Kirkland statements for jurors.

If convicted in the Crawford and Kenney murder cases, the suspected serial killer could be sentenced to die by lethal injection.

Cincinnati Police have already changed their protocol in cases involving missing juveniles.

Working with the Kenney family, the ESME training program was unveiled last fall. Officers have been trained in its use.

CINCINNATI --

An Ohio registered sex offender, whose attorneys told
jurors he killed two teenage girls, has been found found guilty of the
slayings.Anthony Kirkland, 41, who had pleaded guilty to killing
two women before the trial began, was convicted of aggravated murder,
attempted rape and other charges in the slayings of Esme Kenney, 13, and
Casonya Crawford, 14, both of Cincinnati
During the trial, defense lawyers presented no evidence and conceded
that Kirkland killed the teenagers.After the verdicts Friday,
defense attorney Norm Aubin said the defense would focus on trying to
prevent Kirkland from getting the death penalty.Kenney was killed
in 2009; the others were slain in 2006.

Anthony Kirkland, a confessed serial killer who pled guilty to the
murders of two women and was found guilty in the murders of two teen
girls, is expected to make a statement asking that his life be spared
during the sentencing phase of his trial, which begins today.

A
jury found Kirkland guilty on Friday of aggravated murder, attempted
rape, gross abuse of a corpse, and more in the deaths of 14 year old
Sharee Crawford and 13 year old Esme Kenney. A week earlier, when his
trial began, Kirkland confessed to the murders of Mary Jo Newton and
Kimya Rolison.

The sentencing phase will likely take two days to
complete. During that time, Kirkland will give an unsworn statement,
that means a statement that's not under oath, in hopes of convincing at
least one juror to spare his life. Because he won't be under oath,
prosecutors will not be allowed to ask him questions.

The
defense has indicated from the start that they will put most of their
efforts into this portion of the trial. They're expected to say that
Kirkland should be spared because without his confession, three of these
murders would never have been solved. They'll also point out the fact
that Kirkland is facing so many years in prison for the two murders he
pled guilty to that he will likely die there. The defense also plans to
call one of Kirkland's relatives and a mental health expert to testify
to save his life.

A verdict of death must be unanimous. If the
jury does not agree on death, Kirkland could get 25 years to life for
the murders of Esme Kenney and Sharee Crawford, and life sentences for
the murders of Mary Jo Newton and Kimya Rolison.

Esme Kenney’s grandmother and her best friend will never stop
mourning their loss, but they keep hope that healing is on its way.Esme's grandparents in Montana, along with a woman
who was as close to her as a grandparent, are still repairing their
broken hearts, not only from Esme's murder, but also now from the
Band-Aid that was ripped off during the trial—reliving the entire tragic
death of Esme Louise Kenney.Carol Siders, Lisa Kenney’s mother,
and her best friend Judy Lund, of 31 years, have grieved the loss of
Esme, 13, who was taken from their lives on March 7, 2009 by serial
killer Anthony Kirkland.


Lisa Siders-Kenney and her daughter
Esme Kenney in the summer of 2008
on
vacation with family in Montana.
Esme was on this earth for 5,114 days,
Lund calculated, and that time was her gift to her. "She gave a
little of bit of it to everyone she met. She even gave Kirkland a piece
of it and he just wadded it up and threw it out like trash. Esme was one
of a kind, there will never be another."Siders and Lund have
spent the last year mourning her sudden demise together. They talk and
remember the child who was their one-of-a-kind granddaughter.Carol,
grandmother to seven, said that she remembers Esme as "very loving and
joyous and enjoyed living and doing anything new. She was enthusiastic
about everything and everyone."Carol and her husband Jim, Esme’s
maternal grandparents, handled their grief over her death in different
ways, she said."I felt total devastation and shock and could not
think straight or remember, cried every day, [felt] sick to my stomach,
[had] nightmares."As for Jim, she said, he was "angry, snappy,
ranting, in shock, helpless." He wanted to kill Kirkland, sue the parole
board that let him loose.But instead of insisting on revenge,
she said that she was sad and started noticing that her body was
reacting to the devastation.The week before Mother’s Day, she
broke out in hives that blistered. She spent four days in the hospital
with wounds like second- and third-degree burns. "I was totally
emotionally connected to Esme anticipating her feelings and pain."Carol’s
pain and grief was exacerbated by the fact that she felt disconnected
from her own daughter, Lisa, Esme’s mom. She felt helpless, she said, to
ease her daughter’s pain. But during the trial, she was able to comfort
her grown child."I felt closer to Lisa and felt good to be with
her as she testified. Lisa was able to share her feelings with me at
that time and [I] felt able to comfort her."But the trial brought
about another bout of anger for her husband. He relived his emotions of
angst all over again, especially seeing in person the man who had taken
his granddaughter from him so violently. He calmed down, Carol said,
realizing that he needed to be strong for Lisa."We talked and
shared with each other. And he knew he had to be strong in the courtroom
for Lisa," who in her testimony had to relive the traumatic day when
her daughter went missing then was found the victim of a brutal murder.Overall,
she said, the family had a good healing experience because while they
were in town for the trial, they attended the Quaker service held in
Esme’s honor."It helped Jim to go with me to Cincy and spend
healing time with Lisa, Tom and Corey," which are Esme's parents and
uncle.Carol has continued to heal the entire year, she said, by
crying whenever and wherever she needed. She also talked about Esme to
everyone especially her best friend Lund, who printed every story about
Esme over the year, as well as printed a plethora of photos for her to
carry in a notebook wherever she goes, keeping her granddaughter close
to her no matter where she is.She said that she has lined
her bedroom wall, front room’s corner bookcase and dining room table
with photos of Esme. She often reads and looks at notes that Esme had
made for her over the years. She heals by remembering and by praying."I
prayed and thanked God just about every day for having Esme for 13
years. I rejoiced in the cards and notes Esme left behind. I remembered
all the things about the nine times I had been with her and how
wonderful she was."She said that she talked with Jim about
all that they had been through and listened to his thoughts and
feelings. His anger slowly subsided after six or seven months. They
talked every day about Esme and Jim read all the newspapers from the
entire year. They talked, she said, about each thing as it came up. "He
was able to go from anger at everyone, to sadness with me, and we were
both sad together."Amidst the anger and sadness, Jim was able to
give something to his daughter Lisa that he had for Esme, but never had
the chance to give her.The whole family is musical, said Carol,
including Jim who plays the guitar. And according to his wife, Jim
worked in exchange for a Martin guitar for Esme. It was just her size
and made just for her, she said. However, he never got a chance to give
it to her. He gave it to Lisa when the family visited last summer in
Norris, Mont., where the Siders have a cabin.But Carol isn’t the
only grandmother that misses the young teenager that visited them in
Montana every summer with her mom and family. Judy Lund, Carol’s best
friend loved Esme as well."Esme was very special to Judy. Esme,
unlike any other child we ever knew, reached out in love to all people;
adults, kids, all people," said her grandmother.Lund, of Bozeman, Mont., about 80 miles north of Yellowstone National
Park, lives just seven miles from Carol and Jim and is Carol’s best
friend. She has been for more than 30 years. A grandmother of
three herself, Lund considered their cozy town a safe place to live,
however, now she said there is no place that is safe. But that’s where
she and her friend raised their families since the 1970s.Carol
and Lund raised both their children and grandchildren, together, all
around the same ages. In fact, Lund’s grandson Kyle is Esme’s age and
they both played the cello.From the moment that she and Esme met,
she said, she felt a special connection to her.The way that Esme
"wiggled her way into my heart is a very important part of my story,
the most important part," said Lund, who considers herself a very
private, "sealed-up person.""I choose who comes into my life …
not many can just show up." But that is just what 7-year-old Esme did
when she walked into her life.She had seen Esme several times as a
baby, but had not seen her for quite some time when she went with
Carol, (they were in Seattle, Wash.), and visited with Esme and Lisa who
were at Whidbey Island in Washington. About a week later, Lund
said, Lisa and Esme joined the rest of the family in Moses Lake in
Washington, where she and Carol had traveled. Lund was taking the
family’s photos. Carol and Jim and most of their grandkids were
there and she was ready snap some shots. She remembered that she was
"milling around" when in walked Esme."I feel a pull on my pant
leg. Esme stands there, sticks out her hand to shake mine and says, ‘Hi,
I don't know if you remember me, but I am Esme Louise Kenney, we met a
week ago and I just wanted to say, ‘hello’ to you.’"Lund was
forever changed in that instant."That was the day she
melted my heart and became so very special to me." "That
was Esme in a nutshell. That is who she was. No one in my life ever
stepped out and picked me for anything but Esme picked me and from that
day on I was a marshmallow ever changed by a 7-year-old who actually
looked at me and saw me and shook my hand and said ‘Hey I see you.’"No
one had ever reached her, she said, on that high of an emotional level."We
were hooked together from that point on. That is why we [were] close
and that is what Kirkland killed and took away."She could have
been something amazing, she said."No one but her family can
imagine what Esme could of been for our world … Kirkland killed it all,
smashed it, crushed it, killed it and I will never, ever be the same
again for what she was to me and now she is gone."Every 7^th
day of the month, every Saturday and especially every March 7, is
painful for Lund."I am hurt, sad, frustrated and lost without
her. I can't begin to explain the hurt in my heart for Esme not being
here ever again. There are no words for this kind of pain."There
is a "heavy cloak of concrete called grief" that surrounds her every
day, she said. But over the summer, the family came together in
Montana, as they always do, and while there were moments of tears and
sadness, she said, there was also an abundance of laughter. They
remembered Esme and laughed. When it was time to take their
annual family photographs Carol and Jim decided that for their first
family portrait, without their beloved Esme there smiling away, they
wanted to hold a framed photo of Esme. As Lund snapped the shot, she
said, the still-grieving grandparents held the photo in front of them
with their other grandchildren surrounding them on each side.Esme’s
death has triggered a fear in Lund that dates back to her own
misfortune as a child.Lund, who was almost kidnapped
herself at a young age but escaped, has not only been affected by her
death in an emotional way, but also in a protective way toward her
family. She said that she has told her 36-year-old twin sons to never
let her grandchildren out of their sight, not even for a moment."I
say to everyone grab your kids and never let go of them no matter how
much they complain."She has always been protective of her
children, she said, never letting them out of her sight. But now, she
feels that way about her grandchildren, not knowing where dangers may be
lurking.During the trial which she, Carol and Jim attended for
Lisa’s testimony, it was like having a "gigantic scab ripped off," she
said, hearing the details of what Kirkland did to her and to find out
that she had spoken to him in her final moments alive. "That was
Esme. She humanized herself to him and in the middle of her rape she
said, ‘Do you have children’... that was Esme ... I can hear her in my
head saying these things to him trying to get through to him, trying to
reason with him, trying to get him to let her go. That is all she wanted
was to be let go."It hurts more now, she said, than in the first
year of her being gone to hear those things in court.But she,
Carol and Jim had to know what happened to Esme. They had a need to know
what she experienced, in some way wanting to go through it for her. "It
was like we did not want her to be alone in that moment. I can’t
explain it other than to say that is where the three of us were in our
heads, and it was an important part of the letting go." Lund
is dealing with the tragedy in steps, she said. The trial was her
death, taking Esme home. Once Kirkland is sentenced on Wednesday, March
31 that will be her funeral. "This is my end. This is my letting go."Esme,
she said, would not want them to be angry or hateful or act bitter,
crazy or demand justice. She would want them to be at peace."She
was wide-open, a loving child. She was not perfect, she was not a saint,
she was just Esme that’s all. She came that way, and she went out that
way."And that, she said, is her lesson."Esme would want us
to know she is OK now. Kirkland killed her body but he could never,
ever kill her spirit."After all, Lund said, Esme, Sharee,
Mary Jo and Kimya got the last word. They spoke out on Friday, March 12
when the jury said "guilty" and again on March 17 when they recommended
the death penalty.
"I miss Esme. How do you stop missing someone? I just want the pain
to stop."She said she has started to heal by talking and sharing.
Grief is what she felt when Esme died and now, she said, it is about
mourning the loss of never seeing her or hearing her voice again. "Mourning is the jar that holds all the feelings,
experiences of knowing Esme. Mourning is grief gone public.She
and Carol talk to everyone that will listen to them, she said. And they
allow Jim to "rant." His ranting comforts her, because it is his way of
letting go. That’s how they go on. That’s what they have to do, rather
than giving into hate, depression, anger, said Lund. Remembering
Esme, and talking about her especially on holidays and on her birthday
is what they do for each other. When the snow clears from their Montana
home, she said, Carol and Jim will plant a tree in honor of their
granddaughter. "That will be the final letting go ... our walking
Esme home."She will never forget the sweet little girl who stole
her heart, she said. And she will continue to mourn, however, she hopes
that the pain will lessen, trusting that time heals.Who was Esme
to her?"She was my friend and I loved her and I will miss her
forever and one day."