HAMILTON, Ohio — A Middletown woman and her boyfriend, who are facing more than 30 charges in connection with her 6-year-old son's death, pleaded not guilty Monday afternoon. Among the most serious of those charges are murder, kidnapping, child endangerment and abusing a corpse.
Britney Gosney, 29, confessed to killing her son, James Hutchinson, after trying to abandon him and his two siblings in a park in nearby Preble County.
While Gosney was attempting to leave the children in a parking lot at Rush Run Wildlife Area on Feb. 27, the 6-year-old grabbed onto the car and was dragged and possibly run over, according to investigators. Gosney returned to the scene to find her son dead before loading his body and his two siblings, who had not been injured, back into the car.
Gosney's boyfriend, 42-year-old James Hamilton, pressured her to abandon the children and assisted her in concealing his body before the two dropped it into the Ohio River, according to Preble County court documents.
Gosney faces a single count of murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, one count of tampering with evidence, five counts of endangering children, three counts of kidnapping, three counts of abduction and two counts of gross abuse of a corpse.
Hamilton stands charged with three counts each of kidnapping, abduction, endangering children, tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.
Monday afternoon, both pleaded not guilty to the charges. Each has a pretrial hearing scheduled for March 22.
WCPO 9 News photographer Terry Helmer contributed to this report.
