Boys’ Arrest in Girl’s Slaying Stuns Cincinnati

The boys’ first question for their lawyer was this: When can we go home?

Cincinnati public defender Terry Weber had to tell them it could be a very long time.

The 11-year-old sobbed. He stands accused of beating his little sister to death. The 13-year-old reeled. He too is charged in the girl’s murder. He also is accused of raping her repeatedly. She was his cousin. He was baby-sitting her when she died.

The two boys appeared Friday in juvenile court in Cincinnati to face charges in the death of 8-year-old Takeya Bryant. She died of blunt-force trauma--a beating--sometime Wednesday morning, after her mother had gone to work, leaving her and her three siblings in the care of their 13-year-old cousin.

The cousin called 911 about 10 a.m. to report that Takeya was not breathing and would not “wake up,” although he had tried to revive her with a dousing of cold water. Paramedics were unable to resuscitate her.

The murder, which occurred in a funky, eclectic neighborhood of Cincinnati known as Northside, has horrified a city already reeling from a frightening surge in violent crime over the last few months. Some of Cincinnati’s tougher neighborhoods have been terrorized by gang warfare, and police at times have found themselves under fire.

But even against this backdrop of violence, Takeya’s death struck a nerve.

The boys accused in her murder are the youngest defendants ever to face homicide charges in Cincinnati or surrounding Hamilton County.

“It has stunned and shocked our community,” said Hamilton County prosecutor Mike Allen. “We’ve had an upsurge of violence, especially juvenile violence, but this is just . . .” he paused, seeking words, but could think of nothing else to say.

With the investigation still underway, Takeya’s mother has not yet been allowed to enter her apartment, which is being treated as a crime scene. But prosectors have assembled a few pieces of the story.

Takeya and her siblings--the 11-year-old brother, a 9-year-old sister and a 5-year-old brother--were removed from their mother’s custody late last year after she was convicted of child endangerment for leaving them unsupervised. Their grandmother took custody of them. But she apparently had trouble caring for them full time. “I think she tired of the whole deal,” said a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office. She returned them to their mother.

Such frustrations are common for grandparents who assume custody of their grandchildren in the hopes of keeping their family together.

“We’ve pushed these situations onto grandparents with very little or no support, and it’s not surprising that tragedy has struck again,” said Rick Sorg, vice president of Beech Acres, a nonprofit family service agency that works with Cincinnati parents in crisis. “They are overwhelmed with the responsibility of having to parent children again . . . and without support, it drives them over the edge.”

Takeya’s mother also apparently was unable to look after her children full time; neighbors reported that she worked two jobs in area hospitals, prosecutors said. She apparently asked her 13-year-old nephew to baby-sit all four children in her cramped apartment.

Prosecutors did not know how often the boy looked after the children, but they alleged that he sexually assaulted Takeya on several occasions. He has been charged with three counts of rape.

Takeya’s sister and little brother have been placed in foster homes. Her older brother and her cousin are in a juvenile detention center. A judge on Friday ordered psychological evaluations to determine whether they are competent to stand trial. Under Ohio law, children younger than 14 cannot even be considered for prosecution as adults, so the boys will be tried as juveniles. If convicted, they can be jailed until their 21st birthdays.

When he notified them of that penalty, Weber said, “the severity of it hit them square in the face.”