CINCINNATI — Three-year-old Nylo Lattimore was still alive when the man prosecutors say killed the boy's mother less than a week earlier dropped him into the Ohio River.
The toddler has not been seen since.
After nearly three months of searching, Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced a new murder charge against 21-year-old Desean Brown, the man already accused of killing 29-year-old Nyteisha Lattimore in early December 2020. The new indictment now accuses Brown of purposely killing Nylo, as well.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in response, Deters said.
Watch Deters' full news conference here:
Nyteisha was stabbed to death in her home Dec. 5, according to police. Her body would not be discovered until Dec. 12, when officers found it abandoned on Pete Rose Way in downtown Cincinnati.
Brown let Nyteisha's body sit in her apartment for at least five days, Deters said, before using a body bag to remove it from the apartment. During the news conference, Deters showed a screenshot of a surveillance video dated Dec. 11, which he said depicts Brown carrying Nyteisha's body in the body bag through a hallway in her Walnut Hills apartment building.
The prosecutor’s office released the following timeline of events:
- Dec. 5 – Desean Brown kills Nyteisha Lattimore
- Dec. 6 – Brown throws Nylo in the river, alive
- Dec. 11 – Brown takes the body bag containing Nyteisha’s body to the Purple People Bridge
- Dec. 12 – Nyteisha’s body discovered by law enforcement
- Dec. 13 – Nylo’s stroller is located in the river
In a post-briefing interview with WCPO, Deters explained that, while keeping the body in the apartment, Brown accessed Nyteisha's phone to post and communicate as the woman via her Facebook account.
One post, dated Dec. 5 -- the day of Nyteisha's death -- read: "I love him forever Desean Brown."
It was a killing that Deters described as premeditated.
"He planned for a long time to kill her," he said. "I don't know what his deal is, but he absolutely planned this thing out for probably up to two months."
Investigators found Nylo’s stroller in the Ohio River near where his mother's body was found on Dec. 12 but did not immediately declare the child dead; family members expressed hope that Nylo would be found safe.
Although the child’s body had not been recovered by Wednesday afternoon, Deters said police had identified a bloodstain found near Nyteisha’s body as belonging to Nylo.
Deters said investigators believe Brown tossed the boy into the river while he was still alive.
The prosecutor described it as "horrific."
"It's very hard to believe, at least on a personal level," Deters said. "This act that he's committed is beyond... I do get upset about it when it involves children. I do."
Deters said investigators believe Brown killed Nylo in an effort to cover up his involvement in Nyteisha's death.
"He didn't want Nylo's existence traced back to him after he killed Nylo's mother," Deters said. "He made a choice, and he decided that this little boy's life wasn't worth what he had done to the mom and going to prison for the rest of his life.
"I still have nightmares about this," Deters said. "I cannot even imagine what that little boy was going through."
Brown's attorney did not return WCPO's call for comment Wednesday afternoon.
