It’s called the Saranac Playground, and when the weather’s nice it becomes a magnet for children living on Cleveland’s east side.
But in recent days, this small patch of green has been visited by a stream of mourners to pay their respects to the two little girls stuffed inside suitcases and buried in shallow graves.
In the days since the bodies of 8-year-old Mila Chatman and her half-brother, 10-year-old Amore Wilson, were found Monday, a shrine of stuffed animals and flowers has grown.
So there is a mystery surrounding his death.
His mother, 28-year-old Aliyah Henderson, has been charged with two counts of aggravated murder.
At her first court appearance Friday in Cleveland Municipal Court, she did not hear about the tragedy that landed her in handcuffs, shocked her hometown and drew national attention.
Municipal Court Judge Jeffrey Johnson set Henderson’s bond at $2 million, citing “the nature of the charges” and his concern for public safety.
Dressed in a blue sweatshirt and surrounded by court officials, Henderson remained impassive.
“Thank you” were the only words she said during the brief hearing, as the judge wished her luck.
Earlier, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christine Travaglini revealed at the trial that the little girls’ bodies were “badly decomposed.”
So far, the Cuyahoga County medical examiner’s office has not said how or when the little girls died, but confirmed that DNA testing showed they were half-sisters.
Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said no child was dismembered.
Todd said earlier this week that Henderson, who lives near the Saranac playground, had another child living at her home when police took her into custody Wednesday.
The Department of Children and Family Services took custody of the child, who appears to be healthy, Todd said. But no other information about the child has been given.
A man walking his dog on Monday reported the gruesome discovery in the playground near Ginn Academy, an all-boys public school.
Cleveland homicide detectives who responded to the 911 call confirmed that the man’s dog had located the little girl’s body, and they quickly found a second shallow grave with a suitcase containing another body.
“It was like a pile of dirt, and she stopped to sniff … and she was taking too long,” Phillip Donaldson told WEWS-TV. “So I looked back, and it was a half-buried suitcase, and I pulled it out and looked in it, and it was a head, somebody’s head in there.”
Donaldson says the pile of dirt was there for at least a week.
On Thursday, Deshaun Chatman, who said he is Mila Chatman’s father, visited the girl’s burial site. Talking to local reporters, he had no contact with his daughter for many years. He said Henderson was “ducking” him and that he had been in contact with DCFS several times about obtaining Mila’s custody.
“I feel useless,” Chatman said. “I couldn’t save my daughter.”
When asked about Deshaun Chatman’s assertion that he was trying to get custody of his daughter, a Cuyahoga County spokesman said Jennifer Sciaccia called the girls’ deaths “a tragedy for their families and our entire community” in a statement and declined to release any further information, citing an active criminal investigation and confidentiality obligations under Ohio law.
NBC News has reached out to Henderson’s mother for comment.
In 2019, Henderson and her daughters were mentioned in a Cleveland Plain Dealer article about a local hospital’s program to help struggling families.
It included a photo of a smiling Henderson holding 3-year-old Amor on her lap and Henderson’s mother holding Mila, who was about 2 at the time.
“I could really use the help,” Henderson said in the story.
