Two Young Girls Identified After Bodies Found in Suitcases in Cleveland

Cleveland police announced March 5 that DNA testing identified the two young girls recovered from shallow graves in suitcases as 10-year-old Amor Wilson and 8-year-old Mila Chatman. Investigators said the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office used preliminary DNA relationship testing to confirm the children were half-sisters, and local reporters and police described the case as an active homicide investigation.

The bodies were first recovered on Monday after a dog walker in the Collinwood neighborhood alerted authorities to a partially buried suitcase in a field near East 162nd Street and Midland Avenue, close to Ginn Academy. The dog walker, identified as Phillip Donaldson, told local TV crews he noticed "a pile of dirt" and that his dog stopped to sniff; Donaldson said, "So I went back and looked, and it was a suitcase that was half-buried, and I pulled it up and looked in it, and it was a head. Somebody’s head in it." Officers searching the area located a second shallow grave and a second suitcase with a second body.

Chief Dorothy Todd addressed reporters at a Tuesday news conference and described the discovery as a devastating scene. "We are hoping to find answers," Todd said, adding, "This is a terrible, tragic situation." Todd also told investigators the bodies appeared to have been at the site for some time and that neither appeared to have been dismembered, though the medical examiner had not released a cause of death.

Earlier in the probe the medical examiner’s office told reporters that "At this time, neither decedent has been positively identified," reflecting the sequence of identification work that culminated in the March 5 announcement. The ME’s office has said further information will be released as it becomes available, and officials have not yet provided a formal cause or manner of death in the public record.

Police moved quickly after the discovery: Sgt. Freddy Diaz said homicide detectives executed a search warrant Wednesday evening in the East 162nd and Midland Avenue area, and WKYC reported that a person of interest had been taken into custody following that warrant. At the time of earlier reporting, police said the circumstances did not match any active missing-person reports in the immediate area and asked anyone with information to contact the Cleveland Police homicide unit at 216-623-5464 or Crime Stoppers at 216-252-7463.

Cleveland City Councilman Michael Polensek, who represents Ward 10, urged community members, school officials and youth program leaders to check whether they recognize the children and pressed investigators for answers. "This horrific crime must be solved," Polensek said. A scene photo carried by national media was dated March 4, showing police working the site as the investigation continued.

Detectives said the case remains active as the medical examiner completes testing and as police follow up on leads tied to the Wednesday search warrant and the tip that led to the initial discovery.