Sword and Scale - Episode 228

Episode Date: November 21, 2022

When 6-year-old James Hutchinson went missing from his family home in the early morning hours of February 28th, 2021, police immediately began compiling a list of oddities. This family was not normal. When detectives in Middletown, Ohio finally discovered the true chain of events leading up to James’s disappearance, they were horrified.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised Hello and welcome to season 9 episode 228 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Well, we still haven't raised prices, guys. We're having issues. We're having some internal stuff going on, technical stuff. It's complicated. I won't bore you with it.

But our losses, you're a gain. You can still sign up to plus for five bucks a month, get all the plus episodes, get everything commercial free, early access to regular episodes, bonus content, store discounts, everything you can possibly ever dream of. Go to SwornSkill.com, I'm not a bad guy. There is a reason the hippie movement clung to phrases like, all you need is love, and make love not war. In their minds, a problem as complex as global, can be resolved with just a little love. Think back to elementary school, where those of us who were bullied eventually learned

that the mean kids probably had a pretty mean set of parents, too, maybe no parents at all. Some kids with bad home lives and a lot of pent up anger go on to hurt others, and it all stems from a lack of love and a sense of belonging. On the more extreme end of this example, we've got people who live with these feelings day in and day out, until the loneliness and anger builds up like a volcano, ready to erupt and wipe out all life thriving happily along its perimeter. These are the people who have lost all hope and have nothing to lose. And though we're discussing what people sometimes do in anger as a response to feelings of rejection, let's not forget what people will do to prevent those feelings to begin with.

Love can make you crazy, and so can the lack of it. It can make you do just about anything, especially in this era of loneliness and isolation. Humans crave nothing more than the love and affection of other humans. Risks taken in the pursuit of love are in an attempt to prevent love from leaving suddenly pale in comparison to the thought of life thing, suddenly pale in comparison to the thought of life without it. With such a powerful set of blinders on, there's no telling what any of us is capable of. No two police departments are the same. There's an undeniable difference between departments like the LAPD, or NYPD, and a small town backwards police department with five beat cops and one secretary who apparently isn't familiar with the term police records.

Believe me, I know. I'd imagine that in big cities police expect to encounter action on a weekly basis, though I'm hearing things in New York and LA are getting a little mad maxi. So maybe it's more like an hour by hour thing. Who knows, I don't live there. Fuck those places. Middleton, Ohio is about as boring as it sounds. Landlocked, middle of the road, Middleton, Ohio is about as boring as it sounds. Landlocked middle of the road Middleton is about a half-hour drive from Cincinnati. Given that many of Middleton's inhabitants fall below the poverty line, this area is laden with heroin and cornfields. Great place to raise a family, huh? Brittany Gossney thought so.

That or she just couldn't escape Middletons' tight grip on her. In this town of 50,000, police have come to expect your average domestic abuse call, public intoxication, and, of course, robberies. All one of the mill crimes that coincide with drug use. Missing children are a less common phenomenon. On February 28th, 2021, Brittany, a young heavy set woman with fiery hair, reported to the Middleton Police Department that her son was missing. that her son was missing. Six-year-old James Hutchinson was the youngest of three children,

his brother and sister just seven and nine. He was a first grader with big glasses and a wide grin, and James had gone missing in the middle of the night. with everything. Okay? Because we don't have this, we're missing a six year old little boy. And we're trying to figure out where he's at. I got to make sure he's safe. Okay? Now, we know that kids don't have vehicles or like important business they need to attend to in the outside world. So when a child goes missing, the appropriate response is panic. So you can remove your mask if you were, you know, parents. Do you care? They're both your masks? Okay. You don't have pills, right? I don't do.

Yeah. Then we're good. Okay. So what happens? What time do you guys go to bed the last night? Well, the kids go to bed at night. Okay. And we normally do that at 10.

Mm-hmm. Well, as to my new, I told them all the time, nine o'clock, time to read. So, you know, I want to stare at the students, and I want to stare a little bit later to see if they were asleep. Sure. And they were all asleep, and then I went down. Okay. What time did you get up to change? 29 year old Brittany Gossney was burning the candle at both ends, or at least it felt that way to her. With three children under the age of 10 and low income, she bounced around from rental to rental, often to get them on. We're doing them up to okay. So beginning of February again.

So about four or three or four weeks later, it's okay. Brittany was a stay-at-home mom, but her 42-year-old fiancé, James Hamilton, did bring in a little bit of money, doing the odd electrical job. This was a new relationship, by the way. Both Brittany and Big James, as law enforcement would later refer to them, left their previous relationships and began their romance only a few months prior. Things were still in an adjustment period, and the couple was struggling.

With no solid income and a household of five, it's really no surprise. If they moved from one place to another and still didn't have beds, I'm guessing the kids never had beds to begin with. These weren't bed rolls made for comfortable sleeping either. All three kids' beds were comprised of one blanket on the floor, one to cover up with, and a pillow. This is the fiance, James Hamilton, we're talking about here. The youngest of the three children was not in his bed when James woke up that morning.

So he went out on his own to look for him before waking up Brittany. She needs her beauty sleep, of course. First, he said he has come in there several times before to try to wake me up. beauty sleep of course. So then the next thing he's all to do was just go around a couple blocks. He might be close by. Did he walk there, or did he drive there, or what did he do for that part? He drove around. Okay. According to both Brittany and James, the couple had no idea how the little boy could have possibly

slipped out of the house in the middle of the night. That makes for the horses off every night. I mean going to make sure the horses bought every night. I mean, I'm kids. They're so scared. Somebody's going to come in there and show up and make sure, well, how would the doors is soft? Right. So, um, keep telling them, we need your mom,

so they'll try to count her in the front room. They're going to have to get me in her before they get to eat her. Right. Or they'll come in. So, tell me again, what time do you know this is the same time of wartime? Out quarter, four, four o'clock. So about 3.45 to four o'clock is whenever you checked in his ring, yes, and he was not dicker. So what did you do when you looked in the door and saw the world up there? White downstairs, checking the doors because he has to go up one time before, and all the time, right out back on the basement, that seems to have half

way down. So when in the bedroom, I'll put it back on. It seems going my night shirt. I'll put it on. I grab my basement key, I grab my truck key, my car key, all of that. When I checked everything out there, no worse. And that did well. Good. I walked about four or five blocks through their living form and then through the alleys and all that. I think, same no word. I got tired of walking. I went back home and drove on many days. Went out looking for one. That was a higher hour and a half. Got back home. I took me on medicine. It was about 5.30 in the morning that big James arrived home.

By the way, there's a whole lot of irony in that nickname. James isn't big at all. So, at what point did you wake up the kids or Britney to make sure they didn't know where little James was? The look was around about 8.30. 8.30 is morning, I woke back up, woke up, I had everybody, we all went looking again, and then we were ready. The bottom of the room we came here, sure, sure. I mean, this was our last resort.

Their last resort? Many of the law enforcement officers on this case were parents themselves and they recognized immediately that calling the police should be the first thing you do if your kid goes missing in the middle of the night. Was a little unusual because usually when you have a missing child the first thing to do is the parents as they contact the police. They said he was missing since Saturday night. That was an unusual situation.

So we have Brittany Cosny, a mother of three in her late 20s, cohabitating with her new boyfriend fiancee of under a year, who's in his 40s. He doesn't sound like a particularly jolly individual, either. What could possibly go wrong? on February 28th 2021, Brittany Gossney and her boyfriend, James Hamilton, walked into the Middletown, Ohio Police Department to report Brittany's six-year-old son, missing. We have the search rescue team there. We have Bollard County ears support. We have the search rescue team there. We have Bollard County Ears reports. We have Prepple County. We have several other agencies assisting in the search for James. What was he wearing on his tongue?

He was on a yellow and paired blue and red at hand. Night hands. Sure, red night pizza. Blue and red at hand. The last time he ran off? A lot of second. This kid was a slight six year old withold with a vision impairment and Usually kids who like their parents don't run away in the first place It's more understandable when we hear about teens running away from strict households but six-year-olds Don't run away unless they're not getting what they need. Um, he's, he was missing once before? How long ago was that?

Um, I would have said it was the first of the month, but it could have been less than that, but I know it's from time to time. From that house? Yes. So he was missing once before, from that house, and how long was he gone for? Um, I don't know when he was outside, but we found out that he found that. You have their faces there. Well, he found that the bottom of the basement stairs, I don't know when he was doing it.

So how long do you think he was going there? You just kind of a few minutes or an hour? I always feel like I have to remind you, Brittany and James had been together for under a year. If Little James had already run away twice in the last two months, it was definitely something going on. Little James had two older siblings, ages 7 and 9, detective soon wondered if the behavioral issues extended to these children as well. I mean, he had ADHD, he struggles, revancel, he troubles pay attention.

And then he's otherwise in that I can't talk to him. If he's good in school, he tries to focus. He's physically healthy, no, he had no issues. No, no, no. Good boy at home. Yeah. Pretty good boy. How do you guys discipline him? Well, he does. I mean, again, I straight my kids. My kids are grown up, but I did straight my kids.

It's not looking wrong with that. Do you spank them? Do you you just ground on, you touch up for a moment. We just make them stand in the corner, just for once a little bit, to make them know that you need just to do that. I try my best. I don't like telling a screen map. I mean, because I feel like if you're yelling at a screen and I don't say I don't want to listen.

OK. It's more scary. You yell at screen maps and want to listen We all know that when a kid goes missing and even one tiny thing smells fishy, police are looking at the parents. Most child abductors are carried out by non-custodial parents, the rest by other family members. Even worse, according to federally funded research published in 2020, 77.2% of abuse perpetrators are apparent to their victim. That right there is a sobering statistic. Detectives assigned to this case had a feeling Brittany and her boyfriend did a little more

than make the kids stand in the corner when they got in trouble. At first, James gave the same kind of placated response, I mean, their brother had been in trouble with him before? No, sir. But he quickly opened up offering more context. I mean, well, my brother Lee called him on me one time. They came out to the literal with us. No, it was down since then.

Oh. They came out from the federal website. No, it was down since then. No. And they came out and investigated everything. Life said I was burning my step-daughter set. And burning her, she walked around with black eyes all the time. So they came out and investigated. It was all, I wasn't home at the time. Right. So I had to take all four to one day. I was busy doing a home at the time. So I had taken all four to one day.

I was busy doing a side job running. And the very next day I took all four to downtown to where the building is. I went in, I discussed with him, and we had just last winter, there are nothing else. In case you had a hard time understanding them, Big James just got done explaining that he had child abuse allegations against him in the past concerning his stepdaughter from a previous

marriage. James' own brother was the one who called the authorities. 17 years? Oh, well, I got tested by her. That got raised there. We're 18 years old, right? That was six months old. Why are all of us got to get out? So again, it is what we are. She is. Though these claims seem to not have made it very far,

it's pretty uncommon for detailed child abuse claims to be totally unfounded. James was married to his previous wife for 17 years, divorcing ultimately because of the stepdaughter. James did not like children. He did not have any of his own and he didn't want them. I'm getting right to five people or something. Right, I was with, seeing 90% of myself, I'm gonna see. Okay, I got to share. I got to give them all the money, not for a very good. Those who literally see, make the comments,

those who don't make me pay, that was on the way, see, make me pay. Wouldn't she claim to make you pay for it? I have no idea, There are any of them. Sure, sure. You see, someone with red flags on this magnitude probably doesn't even recognize the spectacle they've created. Where do you mean James' angle?

As ex-life-house. So they turn out? ex-life house. Oh, that turned out. Well, I was with my husband at the time and basically we were homeless. And I've known him for several years. You know James for several years. Several. Okay. And I figured because we were homeless, calling up his parents and moving

till we find something else, get situated, or whatever. And he said, you're out there, so I will come back to you guys. So we came to us and we lived there for, I want to say, like two or three months later, more. And then they have been my path of big army men and I didn't want to get involved. I was like, okay. So I try to stay out of served business. Well, once they started arguing on all that, we need a one of what kind of play slip. So we went to the hotel

and then because we was trying to find cheap hotels within a four. We were just now able to get our own place. Well, that's messy. What's your good feeling? What you think happened to little James? I don't know. I'm hoping somewhere there in the neighborhood, I have to see if any friends that he hangs out with, no, no, I'm not. Do the enemy of the Harvard City Life is a good two? He's any part of any part of his swing, anything very wanted. So any kids, well, both,

I take on five, six, these things were in the woods, or bad, I don't remember sure, sure, right? At this point with Big James claiming he had given the cops all the information he had, the detectives went into the next room. The room containing heavy-set Brittany Gossney. Just through that in there again, because some of y'all get mad when I say heavy set. So there it is. Anyway, they were questioning the couple at exactly

the same time and lining their stories up. So Jay, I got a little bit more info than we've talked last time and just finished you've been here for a while and you got brought down the crews you've been here been there. Well we've got a little bit different. We've been all that and I'm going to reuse this just because we've been here for a little while. I'm coming out. This is actually if our third random warning said you were at these ready before. Okay. It says, one thing I am a police officer. I'm warning that it's

should the right to remain silent and then you can use say, can and will be used in a court of law against you. So if you ring right okay, can you read that top paragraph for me? If you wouldn't hear. I do. I been advised of all my rights as contained on this card and on certain all of them in a list to talk to you without, no, see, sir, I've been right that before. Why is that? There's no one kind of questioning. Oh, it's just, it's without a lawyer's presence.

You're sitting there and trying to question me as a suspect or something like that. No, well, you've been here a little while. And you said when we walked in the door, that we all went the same thing, and that's just a little change. I basically know, I get other officers out doing a bunch of stuff. I get other officers that are out. Check and bake and buildings. They're out pulling videos from surveillance cameras that are in the neighborhood around there. And it's kind of like I really don't have anything else to do right now. But other than to go back, kind of retray stuff, govvers and again, or to get hungry, like I don't want

you know, like take my kids and walk you down. Sure, I know. Sure. James Hamilton was not stupid, at least in terms of dealing with law enforcement. If you didn't catch it before, James admitted to having been red as Miranda writes in the past, and when he got to the part about being questioned without a lawyer, James realized they were becoming dubious of his answers. This game of cat and mouse would continue until Brittany started spewing information. They could use this to make James talk, too. Something was aw rye here.

And Middleton police knew that little James wasn't missing. These people had done something to him. Hi, so I've been in police for 20, 70 years. I've been assigned to the justice system, I've seen everything. I've never knew a lot of people, others, others, others of people, or the line of the world. I mean, I'm not going to do this for like last month.

I'm never trying to look for this little boy. Well, I'll find you. Okay, I'm really good at my job. So I'm going to find your boy. Okay, and my partner is really good at his job. So that's what we do. We won't leave here until we find this boy. I need you to be, you know, if you can do think of anything, you need to talk to me about it. And my part is really good at his job, so that's what we do. We won't leave here until we find this more.

I need you to be, you know, if you can think of anything, you need to talk to me about it, and I need you to make sure you tell me, okay? If you're protecting yourself, because maybe something won't arrive, and the voice heard, then I need to know that kind of stuff. If you're protecting James, your boyfriend, from something he may have done accidentally,

then I need to know that. I'm going to ask you to take a polygraph exam, you know what that is? It's a lie detector test, okay? And, there's something going on here, something's not right here. I've done this a lot, I've interviewed hundreds of people in my career. You know, people get scared, they get the suspect into a corner and they don't know what to do. My job is to help them through that because sometimes it is what it is. If that's something happened, and you parents freak out and don't know what to do. My job is to, I'm going to

talk to James here a few minutes and I'm sure he's going to tell me a little bit of different story. Okay, because that's what I get. That's what I find when people aren't telling me the old truths about everything. You can help yourself out tremendously if you know anything about anything that happened because if I prove otherwise that you didn't tell me the old truths then that doesn't look good for you. Okay, that's not going to be good. If you're forthcoming with me now, I can deal with whatever happens.

I can deal with whatever we can go through that together. But I need you to be honest with me better because I'm going to find what happens. Polygraph tests are interesting. They're pretty much only used by police to gauge the level of truthfulness from their interviewee. They're not admissible in court, but they tend to show when an unpracticed test taker is not telling the truth in most cases. You want to drink water or go to Mountain Dew, they need anything. I'm thirsty. That's why I'm asking. I'm going to worry about trying to find my baby.

OK. It's too bad the machine wasn't hooked up to Brittany for that one. Usually, when police threaten a lie detector test, suspects who know they've been deceitful, start spilling the beans right then and there you look at? No, I'm not worried about that. I understand. Or what time he would have or. Well, I'm always used that the baby's been missing. We sent four or 30. We'll say. Okay. And we don't get the call so after 10 a.m. That's peculiar to me. You understand why? Do you see that? Dependent of hours. That's what I don't want. You're missing a

six-year-old or a firstpreyer in the police on a call. So obviously that role is sufficient. Okay. I can't stress you enough that I'm very concerned, not only for your boy, okay. And I'm very concerned that there's something you're not telling me. Again, I read people really well and I'm very concerned that you're going to let me walk out of here and not tell me something you should have told me. Again, if I find out if you could possibly be looking at criminal charges down the road. If you're not telling me everything. And, okay, because this is serious, I'm just in a six year old boy. I hope he's just running off on his own. Okay, but something's not clicking with me.

So, that time you saw your baby was nine o'clock last night. Yeah. And the baby's been missing since four or four years, whatever, and nobody's called the police since 10, until 10, and 10. What came here at nine, something really good was. the only reason Brittany denied knowing anything else and agreed to take the polygraph test is because she believed she would pass it. Either she truly had nothing to do with her son's disappearance and was dealing with her grief in

an unconventional way, or Brittany was lying, and she was arrogant enough to believe that she could somehow pass this test with her, you know, genius cunning. In another stroke of arrogance, Brittany totally forgot, or maybe didn't even realize that her other two children are sentient beings. They have eyes, they have ears, and pretty good memories. Well, not pretty good, but memories nonetheless. The most honest one-liners often come from kids. Isn't it hilarious to see your friends get outed by their own children?

Yes, Susan. Your kid knows you've downed 17 bottles of wine this week. He's been counting. Did Brittany really think that the police wouldn't talk to her older son and daughter? In the eyes of law enforcement, these kids were the only honest witnesses to the events of the prior night. What were the kids telling me then? It's my experience that the most troops are that anybody is for a child. This detective wasn't about to divulge the entire story given to him by the other children

just yet. He began with something small and told Brittany that the kids remembered little James getting in trouble for something the previous night. James was allegedly given bread instead of pizza rolls, like his other two siblings. Brittany didn't remember any of this, claiming the other kids must have been confused. The detective Doug Deeper, revealing more suspicious information divulged by the children. Your daughter also says sometimes the big James doesn't get along with little James. What would you mean by that? I would not. Because little James didn't get any more or less trouble than the other James.

Take all James? Right. That's the same. They're all close to the same age. They all get, okay. I know James does like me a name to them. So, like,

no, taking their fully away. Oh, little James? Yes. That last nine months, which you know, taking their fully away, a little bit. Yes. Back the last nine words, which you know, they all like this, then big argument on that boy between me and her, those are all rich boy. Jane James. He was always causing problems for us.

I mean, what do you really worry about? Yeah. I mean, does he like Jews say problems? What kind of really worry about? Yeah. I mean, does he like using problems? What kind of problems was he probably raising his hand or is his mother writing for a job point in the school where... Sure. I mean, just...

Is this the problem, child? No, I do. I do. So, after his bed, his bed... You know, do you think they hate us? Because they don't really listen to us, but, well, sometimes they don't really listen to me, but there's kids. Sure. But, we usually know all these words, like, okay, tell me what else.

The pair of detectives then played Brittany and Big James against each other, telling both of them that the other had begun to talk. I'm going to talk into a game, and he's going to be a game. So this is the game. Can you read, right? Can you read? I can read somewhere out. I know somewhere.

Is that the fifth slide, then for a camera? OK. I'm going to. That's the fifth site bid for a town. Okay. I'm going to read this to you. But you don't understand how I'm explaining to you. Does that sound good? Does the morning. I am a police officer. I want you to have the right to make the sound.

The big thing is that you can be used to teaching a court of law. Is the right to consult with a lawyer before and during any question you have a call. And have a lawyer, a president, a lawyer we're enduring any questions and have a lot of your presence of water being questioned that if you get on the floor, a lot of work won't be going to you for me. Before you question, can you just stop talking to me or any of the police officers at any time during questioning? Do you understand that?

We ain't not fortunate enough to talk to me. I'm trying to figure out what's going on with your baby. OK, flip that card over to the other side. Do you understand that? Do you? Sorry, I just never been to it. Okay, flip that car over to the other side. Do you understand that? Do you? Sorry, I just never met you. No, that's all I wanted. I need you for any of my hair shanky.

I understand that. You know, I'm taking time. That was probably the friendliest reading of Miranda rights that I've ever heard. Of course, when police read you, your Miranda rights, they're not being friendly. James, push it this off on you. Okay, I'm going to be real close to you about this point. Okay, so you need to be very smart and honesty goes a long, long way with me and if there's

any criminal charges in the future, honesty goes a long way. Okay, I'm getting a story that is totally different than what you've told me. I don't know why James is telling me that, but that's what he's telling me. Okay, so you can sit here and keep lying to me. I can't make you tell me the truth. You know that. You're going to have to take a deep breath and tell me what happened and what's going on here, because something happened.

Okay, there's nothing you're going to tell me that I've not heard a million times over my career. Okay. But I need to know the truth. Because believe it or not, I know it's an old cliche. This truth is what helps people. The truth is what sets people free. Okay. You don't want to live with what's going on here. Okay. You want to tell me the truth. Most people finally tell me, okay, this is what's going on. Okay, that's your choice, huh? Okay, but you know what happens. You know what happens. Only you know, and James knows, but only you're going to be able to get out in front of this, the best you can. Okay, I have to see some remorse. Okay, I have to see that I have not been telling you the old truth.

I'm sorry. Brittany Gossney, a mother who doesn't even understand the concept of remorse, did indeed know what happened to her precious son. Even as she sat in this interrogation room prepared to take a polygraph test. She knew that efforts to recover him would be fruitless. Brittany's biggest concern was not her son. It was getting away with the crimes that she and James had committed. As the polygraph arrangements were being made, Brittany Gossney sat in the interview room and felt the walls were beginning to close in on her. She finally told her version of the true story

before being hooked up for the examination, which would later be used to confirm Brittany's account. She and James hadn't been at it for very long, but their relationship was already falling apart due to Brittany's three extra hungry mouths. James Hamilton just didn't have it in him to deal with the children. He didn't have any patience. He did want to keep Brittany around. This posed somewhat of a problem for the two of them. He told me to hit ridden the kids. Okay. And so I took them for a drive to make them think I'm going to hit rims.

But I'm not going to hit ridden my kids for anybody else in the morning. He told me to hit rims because they were not listening. He was tired of putting up with it. And I told him to tell him, I'm not going to hit rid of putting up with it. And I thought, I'm telling you, I'm not going to get rid of you. I can take a few breaks. And for me in them for a little while, and for a drive, whatever. But I'm not getting rid of them. They're my kids, I will not do that.

I said, if I wanted to do that, I would have gained a little bit of a long time ago. But he kept telling me, either did he change under control or get rid of or do something with him? Do something with them. James said. I just talked to him and I'm terrible with names. It's her name? Brittany. Alright, now she's told me most of the truth. Okay, she seems to remember where he's at, but she told me about his dead.

Okay, and that you guys were together with the children. Okay, it is where it is. I can tell her, he had changed it. I can help you through this, but you guys help me through this. Okay, what do where it is. Like I told her to be a change. I can help you through this. But you got to help me through this. Okay, what do you want to know? I need to know where the body is at. That I do not know. Asked for me being with her and the kids.

No, Sarah, I was not. Okay, yes, she was supposed to take the kids up. There's the end of the most scared tactic. Right. Drop them all for a few months, turn around and go get them. Because they all act in the rule, rule back. I think at some point all of our parents have threatened to drive away if we didn't come to them when they called us.

But Brittany and Big James took this to a whole other level, driving the children half an hour away to rush run wildlife area and leaving them there, like actually driving away. They had done this before, you see. They employed this tactic two other times. Brittany would drive the kids into the woods, leave them there, and drive away, not coming back for several minutes just to give them a good scare. I say minutes, but it could have been longer, because we're seeing a pattern of minimization here. And I was going to leave them, but I was going to tell him that I left them. And reality,

I did. What are you going to do with it? I was going to do anything with it to be honest. Well, if you took him to there, because he told me to take somewhere and drop him off. To get rid of him. Yes, so I've talked to what you said. Please correct me if I wrong. James told you I want kids going.

I don't want to want to see a mobile. So that so even told me I want I want to go upstairs. Okay, I never get a check. Listen so but when he when you loaded up in car with the kids you left Crawford Street with all three kids. Yeah James was in that house. Yeah. He wanted you to take them somewhere and never bring them back.

So you're confused, you care about James. And I'll just you care about James, right? So you take off driving. Did you go kind of straight to rush run? Well, he told me where to go to. Okay, so he told you to take them to rush. I didn't know what the name of the truck was. Sure, sure. But you knew what he was talking about.

So you did to rush run and did you tell them, hey, how about in P or in D. Well, at first I thought I'd have a P. Brittany knew she was going to Rush Run Wildlife Area, but she didn't know of a good spot to actually leave the kids. So big James guided her. I said, Rush Run, both out. Like everybody's a bad person.

She told me that she's at some building. Right. I don't know exactly where she's talking about the building up there at Bruce Run or none of that. The two kids got out the was out here. They got out James was in the back seat. And he didn't want to get out. He asked why he was asleep. So I just nicely kicked him up, said, I don't know where I am. So you did get out of your van. Or did you stay in the van? Well, at first I stayed in the van. Good. And then I noticed James didn't want to get out. So I did get out of the van, unbuckled.

Well, I'm up a big guy with a van. Sure. And got back there and brought change. Did you go in through the door? The out you got out and you went in through the side door. The side back door, yes. Right, and you lived in the amount. Yes.

I didn't go in the ground. Yes. I didn't throw him in the back door. What was the catch? Sure, nobody is saying you did. So what's he's on the ground? What happens? I went to go pull off.

So did he? He had already used the back, or came back out. So you just went to go pull off. So did he? He had already used the bag. I came back out. So you just went to look around? Yeah, and pull the tag. And he didn't have a handle when I closed out my bag. When I went to go pull the leg, I guess he had the handle.

Right. And then I went to go to the ride-off and he's forced to. He had handles when I looked. He didn't have it. And then I went to go drive off and he's forced to. Had to handle it when I looked, he didn't have it. During this stop, Brittany decided she would say an Irish goodbye and drive out there, abandoning her children while they used the bathroom. Whether she realized it or not, her little six-year-old James had his hand wrapped around the door handle, as she backed out.

He was trying to get back into his mother's car, so that she wouldn't leave them all there alone. He knew she would do it. She had done it before. As Brittany sped off, she dragged little James along the ground where he sustained head trauma, and may or may not have run over the little boy's body. The child had already had a hell of a day, just like his other two siblings. But unlike his brother and sister, James' day ended in death. During daylight hours on the same day, Brittany later attempted to abandon her children. The kids had been put through torture.

Brittany claimed earlier she didn't employ tactics, even as benign as yelling, because it scared the kids and then they didn't want to listen. In reality, Brittany and James had no problem terrorizing the children. That was their primary parental technique. right but they were acting up enough that Friday you guys went to you want real for more yes but you and Brittany already been discussing all time. Well I was meeting her both as President for threatening to all times of yes I got to because all else is failed. I mean I'm a wetter source I haven't called this state of Ohio

and all that. They wanted to open up the case order or so. They had to go through the parts of classes and all of this would be there. I mean, there's no one set this act in that. Even after admitting to helping cover up the murder of this young boy, James Hamilton still felt the need to insist

that it was the children who were acting up. They started all of this. If they had just listened like good little kids, none of this would have happened. That evening, Brittany Gosney oversaw the proceedings as James Hamilton hogtied her children one by one. She went to a tire of, she said, would you please open it? I don't go outside, nobody know, I never did. Yeah, sure, I did type of tied up at two months. So, were they under stomachs? Actually, all the time? Yes. Laying back like a few of the wrong times, yes. Um, were they crying?

No, no, no, no, cry about it. No, nothing, nothing. They hog tied a six, seven, and nine-year-old. And none of them cried? I highly doubt that. Once they finished up, the restraints at about 8.30 p.m. according to James, they shoved dirty underwear into each child's mouth and through the three of them in a small, dark closet upstairs. near the noises. So they climbed and you checked on them and they woke up and went up there. That's when they was up there making a lot of noises and just being loud. They yelling like they were getting tired or just laughing and going to the bathroom

and laughing and yelling, I gotcha. I went down low-carb, towed her, and all of that, zoomed out of there. And now we're in two-degree on Brighton. Yes. That's what up there on Ty, the... And our guide to argument that... What would you get into it? I mean, I told her if she'd been nine years with all this work, she told me every time she had this appointment somebody would baby.

Sure. I said, well, I was going to be left with somebody baby, you know, for discipline, you should know something about the person, baby, and then it would be as bad as they are. Right, right, right. And it just tipped me in and on and leaving all of the sex owners that same thing over and over and over. Well, she went upstairs at 2.30, went upstairs, she went high, they were letting out, having all day down the other day. And all of those others still being loud in that, and that they made them put on the season and that's what she left with.

News Flash parents, kids learn from you. These three kids probably needed some babying. What child is going to be perfectly well-behaved for a set of barbarians who think bondage is an appropriate punishment for a child. What child is going to be happy and compliant after being released from a dark closet after six hours? The stupidity in this story is rage-inducing. Well, as soon as she calls me, tells me he's dead, who's dead, and to tell me that James was chasing after,

now he tripped and phone his head, plus the head opened. What kind of a step? The truth now is, he didn't just slip and bang his head. Because you've done really good up till now. I need to know precisely how he died, how he passed away. So I know this is a hard part for you. And I know that you're a mom. And I know you have feelings for James, but you also, you're a mom.

And you love your children. I'm sure it was more of the hardest thing to do. I know it was the hardest thing to do. You've done to one of your children. I've never gotten a fat brain. I know. And you went down a wrong path here. And you know that now. OK, specifically though.

He was not listening. OK. He was just listening to your kids. Because he needs a little break. This gets even worse when we hear how Brittany responded He was not with me. It was just me and your kids couldn't send me any news of the breaks. This gets even worse when we hear how Brittany responded to the incident with little James. I was rolling the motor, trying to help him back. See if I can get him to come back. Well, did you know he was going to be pretty soon though?

At first, he was still breathing. I got I said, he took a couple of days. We were in the seat believing in him from... Right here on the right. Right. No, I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed.

I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in bed. I was in didn't have enough of them. I know he had his eyes kind of like, you know, he kind of like sleep with your eyes open, like in tiny bit. That's how he had his eyes.

So he was like pretty spawning, but I guess couldn't talk. But he was breathing heavy. I don't know how many. I could't tell you to make breathing fast you was. But when I got, when I was with them, it was breathing still. And I was doing my seeking or that I learned how to do and trying to bring them back. And I just, I couldn't. Listen to how emotionless she is as she recalls the death of her youngest son. Also this is why stupid people should not take it upon themselves to remedy a situation like this.

If Brittany had called 911, they would have told her not to do CPR on a breathing human who still has a heartbeat. This is especially true when dealing with children, as even adult ribs can often fracture under the pressure of hands administering CPR. A child's ribs are even more fragile. And here, Brittany is further injuring her baby boy who was already struggling to breathe. I just kinda like, like a baby, pick them up and head in the flames. Let's not forget that the other children, the seven and nine-year-old, were present for the whole ordeal.

She packed the two of them up with their dead brother and drove back home. Brittany was an epanic and wanted big James to help her solve this problem. So she brings the body home, is it in the bedroom, and then what happens? Even if you yourself went out to tell somebody by yourself and got rid of it, I just need to know where. If you're not, it will help me. You're one. I don't know know where. If you're not, your seat is always helping. You're wise. I don't know exactly where it was, sir.

Okay, were you with her when the body was dumped? Yes. Okay, if we went out driving, because did you take it back up to the rushroom? It wasn't up to the rushroom, and I wanted the sulfur bridge in the river. Okay, what bridge? Middle-town bridge?

No, since then. She wanted a self-medical hold him down in the water. There was a brick tie to his chest. There was a brick tie to him? Yes. What kind of brick? About this wall, about that thing. Like a center block?

A brick or a light? What kind of brick? So much a center block, where is her life? What kind of room? So much center block bridge. So as we let go, I jump right back in the van. When we got going so she looked at me, said, I heard a bit telling you what about it. Right? There are no national statistics reporting the number of corpses pulled from various bodies of water. But we know the Ohio River is a common dumping ground in this area of the United States. It's a vast multi-state waterway that has been known to gobble up human remains without a trace.

After living with his dead body in the family home for two days. James Hutchinson's own mother and her grimy good-for-nothing boyfriend dumped his tiny body over a bridge into the Ohio River with a cinder block strapped to his chest. They wanted to weigh him down, so he wouldn't wash up anywhere. Brittany wanted her boy to be missing forever.

Crews say low visibility and high river levels made it too dangerous to send divers into the water. They describe the river as a glass of chocolate milk, meaning that it was very cloudy, very dark, and just overall muddy. Now while their efforts were mainly on land, they say even that was limited meaning that it was very cloudy, very dark, and just overall muddy. Now, while their efforts were mainly on land, they say even that was limited

because there were some parts that were underwater. The water is still very high. It's going down, but it didn't go down as much as we had hoped. While today's recovery efforts were unsuccessful, crews say they aren't giving up hope. Little James's body has never been recovered. The vast river is now his unmarked grave. The only story we have is the one told by his mother Brittany and her boyfriend, James Hamilton. We all know that once caught even the whole truth given by perpetrators is probably only half-right.

Now, law enforcement had to reach out to James Hutchinson's biological father to tell him that's what I want. No candidate ever deserves to be treated like that. I don't know how somebody could be a monster and do that to a six-year-old. It's crazy. I want justice for him. That's what I want. And I'm sorry. I can't say no more. You're so sour. If you had a worst day on the planet and instead of you seeing him, it just changed. He's got an inch off. A child looks for comfort in his mom. Your mom's supposed to be your superhero and his mom

caused his death and at the end of the day was his monster. All three children once attended the same school, Rosa Parks Elementary. It's a shame that the truth had to come out this way, but all the teachers and staff remember Brittany's children as being very well behaved. A direct contrast from the behavioral reports given by Brittany

and Big James. After the news of his murder broke, a custodian at Little James' school posted a video to TikTok. Not sure who needs to hear this today. I work in a school system in Ohio. One of my students were tragically killed this weekend by the hands of his mother. I don't know if that was her intentions,

but she was going to drop me off, and that's not what happened. My best advice is if you get that stressed, I need to feel that that's what your last alternative is to drop your kids. Take them back to school. Take them back. Those people there love your kids or they wouldn't be there

because they don't get paid. I'm a custodian. My numbers on the door for deliveries. Take them back, call that number, how come get up? Do the questions asked. Please don't hurt them. This story was so tragic and traumatizing, it permeated through the school like a thick smog. Little James had friends, other kids and teachers that he was excited to see every day. Someone had to explain to those children that James would never be returning to school, and many parents found themselves navigating complex concepts like murder and

death with their six-year-olds. These are difficult subjects that even fully formed adult brains cannot grapple with. I recommend any parent who has a child no matter what age it may be can be garnered through 12th grade to speak with their children. Be honest with them, be sensitive to their emotions, be sensitive to their developmental ages. The last thing we want to do is a child who needs to express emotions or feelings. It's a creative barrier where they can't communicate with us. So for every parent who's out there loving their children right now, when they get home tonight, first of all, get them a hug and then just engage us in dialogue about how

they're feeling, what their emotions are, and how their day went. Go give your kids a hug. Give them all the hugs that little James Hutchinson deserved, but was denied. I believe that Mr. Hamilton would like to speak. You're welcome. You should have told him it was a real one. That is very hard for me to stand in front of you and the court and have words said or in my head,

but I will try. I am terribly sorry about what happened to all three children. I'm very sorry for a flight in that night. I did not feel like I could interfere with her parents and put a fuck to go back and do you think to it all over again I will will have on top of them. It hurts when I think about what they all had to go through that night. I thought she was taking the kids some place safe. When I found out what was going on, I told her to bring them back home and she did would not listen to me. When she texted me, told me James was dead, I told her to go back and pick him

and the other two kids up and bring them home. Had she not listened to me, he knows what other things could have happened to them after that night. Here is what I want to say in the family. You, James Hamilton, know what you single-handedly took away from us. You helped steal the innocence of children. You abused three children so horribly for so long with no regards to their lives. You helped cover up a murder of an innocent, ride-eyed, beautiful, six-year-old boy

who will never have a life. For once, search teams and volunteers have searched for cruel clues in the Ohio River with absolutely nothing. The Ohio River is now huge, unmarked grave that no one can go visit. We cannot put flowers at it. No one can leave James's favorite toys at it.

It is a grave that no one to this day has been able to be found. James Hutchinson, remember his name. He was six. We hope that his name and his contagious smile haunts you for the rest of your natural born life. Both Brittany Gossney and James Hamilton pleaded guilty to their charges. Brittany's consisted of one count of murder and two counts of child endangering. James was charged with kidnapping, gross abuse of a corpse, and two counts of child endangering. James was charged with kidnapping, gross abuse of a corpse, and two counts of

child endangering. Brittany will serve 15 years to life for the murder charge, and three additional years for each count of child endangement with the possibility of parole after 21 years. She will be 50 years old. James Hamilton was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison, capping at 19. They will likely both be out of prison one day, living their best life. Now the remaining children are in foster care. Brittany had one job to do.

These were her biological children. She had custody of them, and she did not work. These kids were her only responsibility. And she placed her creepy, violent boyfriend at the top of the priority list, rather than her own flesh and blood. When James grew tired of the kids, Brittany had reached her breaking point as well. She was struggling financially, didn't know the first thing about parenting, and these three kids were nothing but a burden to her. James Hamilton was the one giving Brittany the kind of attention she needed, the kind of

love she desperately wanted, like her little boy. But that meant that the kids had to go. Brittany imagined a life without her boyfriend's love and affection, and then she imagined a life without her son, living a happily, child-free life. She liked that image better. One can only imagine what may have happened to the other two children what may have happened to the other two children, if she'd gotten away with it. Without recovery of his body, we may never know what happened to Little James Hutchinson,

his siblings who witnessed the murder, maybe the only people on the planet who really know the truth. That's a sad set of memories for any child to start their life with. We can only hope that these two children will be adopted by a family capable of replacing all of those terrible memories with love. The love that all three of them should have gotten to begin with. Thank you once again, folks, for joining us.

It's been real. You know? Anyway, our call in line is 9-548-896-854. Leave us a message and stay safe. 1. Draw the line on the left side of the eye. 2. Draw the line on the left side of the eye. 3. Draw the line on the right side of the eye. 4. Draw the line on the right side of the eye. 4. Draw the line on the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line the line of the line of the line the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the lineude, I'm calling for the Kentucky.

I wanted to say that you guys are absolutely amazing. I love every story that you guys put out a bright and Monday, and it also reminds me that this world is full of cruel people, and it just seems like there's no end in sight. Also, I'm a plus supporter, and I've been a plus supporter for a very long time now. I tell everyone that I know anyone that I meet about your podcast because it's absolutely the best podcast out there without a doubt.

I just wanted to say that you guys motivate me to watch out for my surroundings and always making sure that I'm safe anywhere that I go. So yeah, you just never know anymore. But you guys fucking brought love you and your shortage go crew. So yeah, a big shout out to everyone there. Keep up the great work and I can't wait to hear another episode. Thanks guys. Thank you. you