Cleveland mother pleads not guilty after bodies of 2 young daughters found in suitcases at playground

A Cleveland mother charged in the deaths of her two young daughters after their bodies were found buried in suitcases in shallow graves at a playground pleaded not guilty Thursday.

Aliyah Henderson, dressed in blue and handcuffed behind her back, made a brief video appearance before a judge in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. She remained silent as the plea was read.

A victim’s advocate for the prosecutor’s office told the judge that the fathers of the two girls were requesting the “highest bond possible” for Henderson because she “has a history of staying hidden and moving from place to place throughout the duration of the children’s lives.”

The judge accepted Henderson’s not guilty plea and continued her bond of $2 million.

The bodies of 8-year-old Mila Chatman and her half-sibling, 10-year-old Amor Wilson, were discovered at Saranac Playground on March 2 after a man walking his dog found a partially buried suitcase. The decomposed bodies had been stuffed inside suitcases and buried in shallow graves.

“It was like a pile of dirt, and she stopped to sniff … and she was taking too long,” the man, Phillip Donaldson, told WEWS-TV. “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.”

Henderson, 28, who lives near the playground, was arrested at her home on March 4. Court records show that she’s been charged with aggravated murder, kidnapping, murder, endangering children, and offenses against a human corpse.

Another child who lived with her was removed from the home and is in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services.

A memorial site for the girls has now been set up at the playground. A funeral, with hundreds in attendance, was held on Wednesday at Mount Sinai Friendship United, WOIO reported.

Deshaun Chatman, who said he was Mila’s father, told local reporters that Henderson had been “ducking” him and that he had not had contact with his daughter for several years. He said he had contacted DCFS multiple times about getting custody.

Henderson is scheduled to appear in court on April 7 for a pretrial hearing.