COVINGTON, Ky. — Hours before Cincinnati police officers arrested a 17-year-old for the murder of Benjamin Addison, officers in Covington spoke with him.
The mother of the teen's girlfriend had accused him of stealing her gun, which she said had been missing for about one month. Officers questioned the teen about the allegations, which he denied. They took down his information and let him go.
Moments later, a Kenton County dispatcher let officers know the teen they were speaking with had an active warrant for murder. Here is some of what was said over Kenton County dispatch:
Dispatcher: "He is wanted for murder."
Officer: "Oh is he?"
Dispatcher: "Yeah, it says wanted juvenile delinquent, caution armed and dangerous, full extradition. It's out of Hamilton County."
Officer: "OK, yeah it's funny. I didn't speak to him, my other officers up there spoke to him. I don't know, actually figured they didn't run his information because I was talking to the mother. Wow, interesting."
The dispatcher asked the officer if she wanted to write the call back up. The officer informed her the suspect's girlfriend was driving him back home to Cincinnati.
"I mean it would be helpful if we could call over to Cincinnati and give them this information," the dispatcher said.
Minutes later, the dispatcher called Cincinnati police and told them about the situation.
"They got out with him, got his information and then he left and then it was after the fact that we ran him, I didn't have his information until they had already left," the dispatcher explained.
WCPO reached out to Covington police about the interaction on Saturday, April 6. A spokesperson said officers didn't have probable cause to detain him and that the teenager wasn't doing anything suspicious. However, the city confirmed it was during the follow-up that they realized the teen was wanted for murder.
On Tuesday morning in Hamilton County Juvenile Court, the 17-year-old was once again before a judge for a procedural hearing. Addison's parents were also in court and saw the suspect, accused of killing their son, for the first time.
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"When we walked in he looked back at us as though these are the people who are affected kind of look you know, but kind of blank and didn't care," said Yeshi Leggesse, Addison's mother.
"He's not being released, he's not being allowed to go home and have a life when our son Benjamin does not have a life," said Addison's father, Joe.
WCPO also asked his parents about the suspect's interaction with Covington police before his arrest in Cincinnati.
"What if something happened in between that time and when he actually was arrested?" Joe Addison said. "What if he got spooked or scared and said they're onto me, I got to do something else I got to go rob somebody else's car and if they try to stop me I'm going to shoot them."
The 17-year-old suspect is back in Hamilton County Juvenile Court on May 14 at 9 a.m.
