WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM - 1 yo/ Accused: Marquita Burch - Cincinnati OH

Police say a baby sitter for a one-year-old boy found dead in a
Cincinnati apartment has been arrested on charges of abuse of a corpse
and tampering with evidence.
Sgt. Gary Conner says Cincinnati police arrested 26-year-old Marquita
Burch of Covington, Ky., on Saturday after she reported toddler William
Cunningham missing Friday in Covington and then recanted her story. The
child's body was found in a closet of the Cincinnati apartment. Police
don't know how he died.

Burch is in jail in Cincinnati. Jail records list no attorney for her.

Police say Burch had been babysitting the toddler at an apartment complex in the northern Kentucky city.

Covington police received a call Friday that the child had wandered away from a playground and searched the area for five hours.

http://www.ktnv.com/news/national/155011015.html

Coroner: Toddler Found Dead Suffered Head Trauma

Published: 5/29 4:53 pm
Updated: 5/29 5:03 pm

William Cunningham may have been dead as long as five days before the babysitter who claimed to be his mother led police to him. Marquita Burch is facing charges for moving the boy's dead body, but no one has been charged with his death.

Today, the Hamilton County coroner updated Local 12 news reporter Joe Webb on the investigation.

People close to Burch had told us the boy was dumped in a laundry bag, and today, the coroner added details to how he was found. She also said the preliminary cause of the baby's death is a head injury. Now, they have to figure out if it was an accident or if someone intentionally hurt the boy and ultimately killed him.

Last Friday was the first day anyone suspected something happened to one-year-old William Cunningham. Burch told Covington police he walked away from a play area in the City Heights housing complex. That launched an unnecessary manhunt.

After she came clean, police found the baby Saturday in a closet in a Spring Grove Village apartment. He had been there a while. Hamilton County Coroner Lakshmi Kode Sammarco says, "Because of the decomposition of the body, we believe that it was in the range of two to five days."

That makes sense to people who grew up with Burch in City Heights. Nykiah Thomas says Burch, who she calls "Pumpkin," didn't just show up on Friday. Thomas says, "She had been around several days before Friday and had come, but she did not have him with her. One day she came over and was sad for a whole day and then came back and was just Pumpkin. That's why we never thought nothing of it."

In court, Burch's attorney claimed the boy was injured in an accident, was given ibuprofen and found dead in bed the next morning. The coroner says the boy definitely was injured, but not sure how. Sammarco says, "Well, we know it's head trauma but as far as any other events, any other damage or trauma we're still looking at it."

She would not comment on any other injuries. Thomas says she doesn't buy Burch's story that the boy died from an accident, because she moved the body from her apartment to another location several miles away. Thomas says, "If she was so grossed out and scared about the incident that happened why didn't she just call 9-1-1. Why move the body from one place to another? That's where I'm at. I don't get it at all. There's kids that fall down the steps every day, ya know? And don't hurt themselves that bad. So it don't make no sense."

The coroner says it's too early to tell if Cunningham fell or was hit in the head. She could not talk in great detail because a homicide investigation is in full swing.

Burch was arrested in Covington last summer for stabbing a man during a domestic squabble. She's currently charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of corpse. She's held on half a million dollars bond.

The coroner is encouraging people who may have seen or heard anything regarding this case to contact Cincinnati police.

In the three months she's been coroner, Sammarco has already seen more than six cases of young children who died suspicious, violent deaths.

http://www.local12.com/mostpopular/story/Coroner-Toddler-Found-Dead-Suffered-Head-Trauma/kQOqqowvYUKLgU5qUdHO2Q.cspx

Some tidbits gleaned from tonight's NG show:
* The mother has two other children 20 months and 1 month.
* The babysitter "liked" the child and would take him to help out the mother (who obviously has her hands, and ostensibly other body parts, full)
* This child was in the sitters care for close to two weeks and the mother was elated that she would bring William around whenever she wanted to see him.
* For several days the sitter would no longer respond to requests to see the child.
* NG seems to think that the mother is acting very "unmotherly".
* NG believes that the mother is somewhat responsible, at least in part, for this tragedy.

Personally, I am suspicious that (gulp) there may be a sexual component to this case. If not, I'll be delighted to consume my fedora. I just find it odd that SHE "liked" HIM so much. The mothers words, not mine.

A babysitter has been indicted in connection with the death of a 13-month-old boy.
A Hamilton County grand jury indicted Marquita Burch, 26, on one
count of gross abuse of a corpse and one count of tampering with
evidence in the death of William Cunningham.

Investigators say Burch was babysitting Cunningham in the weeks prior
to his death. The indictment accuses her of hiding the child's body in a
closet at a cousin's residence in Hamilton County. She later reported
him missing from a park in Covington.

Additional testing by the Hamilton County Coroner's Office is still pending.

"These are the initial charges to hold the defendant," said Hamilton
County prosecutor Joe Deters. "Charges involving the death of the child
will be presented to a grand jury at a later time."
http://kentoncounty.fox19.com/news/news/91817-babysitter-indicted-connection-toddlers-death

Baby sitter charged in Ohio toddler death

Published 09:59 a.m., Monday, July 2, 2012

CINCINNATI (AP) — A baby sitter has been indicted on a murder charge in the death of a 1-year-old boy found in a southwest Ohio apartment.

County Prosecutor Joseph Deters says Marquita Burch was baby-sitting William Cunningham of Cincinnati and inflicted injury May 22 leading to his death from a head injury the next day.

Deters says Burch didn't seek medical treatment, put the body in a garbage bag, hid the boy in a cousin's home and reported him missing.

A Hamilton County grand jury in Cincinnati on Monday indicted 26-year-old Burch of Covington, Ky., on single counts of murder and involuntary manslaughter and two counts of endangering children. Burch also is charged with tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.

Burch's attorney did not immediately return calls for comment.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Baby-sitter-charged-in-Ohio-toddler-death-3679091.php

why have 3 children in less than 2 years if u cant take care of them and them farm them out to whoever will take them?

flash0115 wrote:why have 3 children in less than 2 years if u cant take care of them and them farm them out to whoever will take them?

probably for the welfare $$$ - our system is so f'd up

yes so_cal it is. u r so right!