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This is a big story around our area right now and it has me so angry that I intend to write everyone I can think of in this state to tell them just exactly how pissed off and sickened I am by this.







Sex offender charged in slaying
By Amber Ellis and Eric Bradley March 8, 2009




WINTON HILLS – Relatives looked out for Esme Kenney because she was the baby of her family.


That’s why it was so difficult Sunday for the tight-knit group to understand how and why the 13-year-old who left for a jog Saturday afternoon never returned.

Police found Esme’s body at 3:30 a.m. Sunday, nearly 12 hours after she was last seen jogging and just a block from where she grew up on Winton Ridge Lane. Later Sunday, police arrested Anthony Kirkland, 40, whom they discovered in the woods. Kirkland, who faces a murder charge, has a prior police record.

Brad Kenney, Esme’s cousin, said the seventh-grader who attended the School for Creative & Performing Arts was special.

“Esme was a testament to the beauty of humanity at its best, while this crime is a testament to brutality of humanity at its worst,” he said.

Police say the teenager left home Saturday, planning to take a route she’d run many times before, around a nearby reservoir. She told her parents she’d be back.

The police issued a missing person’s report at 10 p.m.

During the early hours of the search, officers found Kirkland in the woods. Fearing Esme had been hurt, they called in more police dogs and flew a county helicopter overhead.

The body, which the family confirmed as Esme’s, was found in the 5900 block of Winton Road. Police have not yet released details about how Esme died.

According to county criminal records, Kirkland was convicted in March 2008 of soliciting sex from a 13-year-old girl and was jailed until Oct. 20, 2008. He was convicted of two counts of unlawful restraint in 2007.

Since 2005, he has been charged but acquitted of public indecency, inducing panic, endangering children, rape and aggravated burglary.

Esme’s was one of four homicides in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region this weekend, including two people in Avondale and a teenager in Covington.

The youth group at Esme’s church, St. John’s Unitarian Universalist in Clifton, met Sunday to talk about the void her death has left. Emotions ranged from anger to sadness to thoughts that her death could have been prevented somehow.

“This seems so meaningless and horrific. What we tried to do is make some meaning out of this horrible tragedy,” said the minister, the Rev. Frank Carpenter.

“I tried to get them to talk about what Esme really meant to them, to say what can I take into my life, how can I change my life, so that I can make meaning in my life from how she impacted me.”

Esme majored in vocal and instrumental music at SCPA in Over-the-Rhine. She sang in a choir and was a cellist in the junior high orchestra.

She “could play every instrument she ever picked up – from cello to harmonica to finger-picking blues guitar,” Brad Kenney said.

“She had literally a ton of talents, and we were all excited to see what she’d make of herself in the years to come.”

The disappointing part, he said, is that no one will ever know.

“The best way to describe her is a little flower child,” said Laurie Wyant, who taught Esme at SCPA for three years.

“It was not uncommon for her to throw her arms around me every time she came into class. I can’t even remember a time when she was even in a bad mood or ever said anything unkind.”

Grief counselors will be available at the school Monday.

The district plans to ask the state to postpone today’s scheduled start of the Ohio Graduation Tests by one day because of the emotional toll Esme’s death will take on the school, said Cincinnati Public Schools spokeswoman Janet Walsh.

On Esme’s blog, she wrote that she loved to talk on the phone, play cello and do homework, something she admitted wasn’t a favorite among teens her age. She chronicled family trips to Washington state, Massachusetts and Canada.

Just last year, Esme told friends how excited she was to turn 12. At the time, she looked forward to ice skating at Fountain Square – even though she knew she would fall.

“That’s what life’s about,” she wrote, “falling on your butt and getting up again.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.

The family asks that people make a donation in Esme’s name to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at www.missingkids.com.

“We’re hoping that our experience leads families to re-evaluate their idea of what the word ‘safe’ means where their wives and daughters are concerned. It’s a wicked world,” Brad Kenney said.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040.


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090308/NEWS01/303080018

Anthony Kirkland and the law, 1987-2009



May 20, 1987 - Anthony Kirkland, then 18, chokes and beats Leola Douglas, 28, after an argument in his Walnut Hills home. He then douses her with lighter fluid and sets her on fire, killing her. He is convicted of voluntary manslaughter and serves 16 years in prison.


Sept. 3, 2003 - Released from prison.

Oct. 25, 2004 - Released from parole.

Jan. 25, 2005 - Accused of raping a female neighbor in Evanston at knifepoint. A jury acquits him in October 2005.

May 11, 2006 - The burned body of 14-year-old Casonya "Sharee" Crawford is found off Blair Avenue in Avondale. Kirkland now is a suspect in that homicide.

June 16, 2006 - The burned body of Mary Jo Newton, 45, is found behind a vacant building in the 700 block of Wehrman Avenue in Avondale. Kirkland now is a suspect in that homicide.

May 14, 2007 - Kirkland threatens to kill his 18-month-old son during a SWAT standoff at Kirkland's house at 860 Ridgeway Ave. He is convicted three months later of two counts of unlawful restraint and sentenced to 115 days in jail.

Sept. 17, 2007 - The Rev. Walter Bledsoe seeks a restraining order against Kirkland on behalf of members of the Bledsoe family. Court records do not say why he sought the order, but a judge granted it in December 2007, ordering Kirkland to stay away from the Bledsoes.

Sept. 26, 2007 - Kirkland solicits sex from his girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter. He is convicted in March 2008 of importuning and sentenced to one year in prison. The judge designates him a sex offender, requiring him to register his address with the sheriff's office.

Oct. 20, 2008 - He is released from prison for the importuning case and ordered to spend five years on parole. He enters the Pogue Rehabilitation Center, a halfway house in Over-the-Rhine run by Volunteers of America.

Feb. 27, 2009 - Kirkland fights with another halfway house resident at 11:30 p.m. Police are called, but Kirkland is not arrested because the other man refuses to press charges. Halfway house managers throw Kirkland out for breaking the rules by fighting, but they do not notify his parole officer for two days. Kirkland does not immediately register a new address with the sheriff as required by law.

March 1, 2009 - Kirkland is accused of breaking into 860 Ridgeway Ave., hiding in the bathroom and attacking Frederick Hughes with scissors. Hughes suffers at least 10 stab wounds but survives. Kirkland flees. A warrant is issued for his arrest on charges of aggravated burglary and felonious assault.

March 2, 2009 - Kirkland's parole officer is notified of his release from the halfway house and begins looking for him.

March 4, 2009 - A second warrant is issued for Kirkland's arrest because he failed to register his address with the sheriff after his release from the halfway house.

March 5, 2009 - Kirkland is accused of threatening Roberta Baldwin, the mother of his child, with a knife. He flees and another warrant is filed against him on charges of domestic violence, aggravated menacing and violation of a protection order.

March 8, 2009:

3:45 p.m. - Esme Kenney, 13, goes for a jog near her house in Winton Hills.

4:15 p.m. - Esme's parents call police when their daughter is late returning home. Police begin looking for her.

11:30 p.m. - Police find Kirkland sleeping against a tree in the woods near Esme's house. Her watch and iPod are in his pocket, police say.

March 9, 2009 - Police find Esme's body in the woods at 3:10 a.m., about 100 yards from where they found Kirkland sleeping. She was strangled and the lower part of her body burned. Authorities say her attacker attempted to sexually assault her. Police arrest Kirkland and charge him with murder.

I wish I knew what to say....

How about " Once again the system fails"

If ever there was a case for the death penalty this would be it .

Sounds like he's more or less been on the run the passed 2 weeks since being kicked out of the halfway house.

I know it is morbid to think about things like this but I really cannot imagine how I could go on after something like this if it were my child . The only thing I would have to live for would be vengance at that point. Knowing that the person who took away my reason for being on this planet was still alive would consume me .

For The Record folks,...that is not my quote.

No its mine. I agree he should of got a lot longer sentence after he committed that first crime, but that's our court system for ya.

Quote:

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They wouldn't have to catch him if they had thrown away the key the first time the guy got locked up or the second time, or the third time, or etc,etc,etc,

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God knows I can't defend what the guy did.. but let's look at the list of things he was convicted of...

Manslaughter he served 16 years..

Unlawful restraint he served 115 days...

Importuning (which I assume means he asked a minor to have sex with him)... he served 1 year....

The rest of the list is stuff that he was either acquitted of or has just recently been considered a suspect for... This whole story is heartbreaking and I'm inclined to agree with the posters about vengence.. but when looked at without all of the emotion, I'm not sure what more "the system" could have done.

Why was Kirkland free?


Anthony Kirkland, the 40-year-old convicted killer and sex offender now accused of killing 13-year-old Esme Kenney over the weekend, managed to slip through just about every crack in the system. We need to remember that such cracks don't happen by themselves. They are caused by the inattention and incompetence of those operating the system.


In 1987, when Kirkland was 18, he beat his girlfriend, doused her with lighter fluid and set her on fire. Convicted of that killing, he received a 7-25 year sentence, which seems a light sentence given the grisly details of the case. He was paroled in 2003 and released from probation 13 months later. That's one big crack - 16 years for intentionally immolating someone.

Then about three months after the authorities had stopped watching him he was arrested again, charged with rape. He was acquitted in that case but in 2007 was convicted of two counts of unlawful restraint and one charge of importuning a 13-year-old girl for sex. He went back to jail for about a year before being paroled again - another crack. He was sent to live at Volunteers of America facility in Cincinnati that is a halfway house for sex offenders.

He was there on Friday Feb. 29, when he reportedly got into a fight with another resident. Here is where the cracks in the system opened into a chasm. The staff at the halfway house called police. An officer responded but because the other resident was unwilling to press charges, Kirkland was not arrested. But fighting is still against the rules of the halfway house so Kirkland was kicked out. That's right; a convicted killer and sex offender with violent tendencies was put out on the street like a stray cat.

Volunteers of America didn't notify Kirkland's parole officer until the following Monday, which is when authorities started looking for him. By the time he was found in Winton Hills on Sunday he would be accused of several more crimes, including stabbing a man on March 1, threatening the mother of his child on March 6 and killing Esme Kenney, last seen jogging near her Winton Place home on March 7. Hamilton County Coroner O'dell Owens confirmed Monday that her body also had been burned. Cincinnati Police said they now are investigating Kirkland for two unsolved homicides from 2006 in which the bodies of female victims had been burned.

Why was Kirkland out of jail? Why would a violent parole offender be turned loose instead of locked up? There are a number of agencies that need to be asking themselves those questions - the Ohio Parole Authority, Volunteers of America, Cincinnati Police. Esme Kenney deserves answers.



http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090310/EDIT01/903100323

Quote:

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The police had him right in their hands a day or two before this happened when he was kicked out of this "rehab" facility, which IS a violation of his parole and just let the monster right back out into the community where he murdered AGAIN.

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The police do not have the ability to charge someone with a parole violation in a case such as this. The call was for a fight, and the fighter and the fightee were not pressing charges. It said the parole officer wasn't notified for two days about him being kicked out of the halfway house, and that is probably true. The fight occurred on February 27th, which was a Friday. It's up to the P.O. to violate him (and that's easier said than done as well) and not the police to take him in on a parole violation.

Did the system fail? It sure as hell did, in more ways than one.....and it's about to get worse as even more cuts are made in the coming weeks.

Add in the increase in crime as people go broke and lose hope and just don't care anymore, and it is going to get messy.

Probably the single lone reason I am looking into a personal weapon,....let's hope Wall Street continues to bounce back (and for other reasons also )

Perhaps we should just declare marshall law.

We gotta get that Marshall guy!