Mother Pleads Not Guilty to Killing Girls Found in Suitcases

UPDATE Mar 26, 2026 12:50 PM CDT

Aliyah Henderson has pleaded not guilty to killing her two daughters, who were found buried in suitcases in Cleveland earlier this month. A victims' advocate told the judge at a hearing Thursday that the fathers of half-sisters Mila Chatman, 8, and Amor Wilson, 10, were seeking the highest bond possible because Henderson "has a history of staying hidden and moving from place to place," NBC News reports. The judge continued the 28-year-old's bond of $2 million. Henderson pleaded not guilty to charges including multiple counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, and gross abuse of a corpse.

• She was arrested on March 4, two days after a man walking his dog in a field found the bodies. Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said a 6-year-old boy found in her home appeared to be in good health, Cleveland 19 reports. The boy is now in the custody of the Department of Child and Family Services.

Mar 5, 2026 5:50 PM CST

The mother of two girls found buried inside suitcases in Cleveland was charged Thursday with two counts of murder, police said. Aliyah Henderson, 28, is accused of killing Mila Chatman and Amor Wilson, whose remains were recovered after a dog walker led authorities to the suitcases four days earlier, the AP reports. Henderson was arrested Wednesday after authorities executed a search warrant at a home near the site, reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. A child at the home was placed in the custody of the Department of Child and Family Services. Family members on Thursday identified the remains of two girls found buried in suitcases in shallow graves, and the father of one of them said he'd been trying to locate his missing daughter for five years.

DeShaun Chatman said investigators told him late Wednesday night that the body of Mila Chatman, who would have been 8 years old, was recovered from a field near Ginn Academy in Cleveland's South Collinwood neighborhood. Nichelle Wilson confirmed her granddaughter Amor Wilson, 10, was the other child. Both family members spoke at the spot where the children were found buried in suitcases. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed the names late Thursday and said DNA relationship testing helped identify the girls, who were half-sisters.

Chatman said he sought emergency custody five times and had tried to locate Mila through a child welfare agency, but those efforts were unsuccessful because he did not know where they were living. "It's very much horrible," Chatman said. He said he felt "useless—I couldn't save my baby."

• Chatman said he and Mila's mother were not married but lived together for about a year after their daughter was born. He last saw Mila in 2020, when she was 3 years old. "Mila was happy-go-lucky, always smiling," Chatman said. "Favorite color was pink — she swore that she was a princess. She was always happy. She was a kid's kid."
• He said authorities have not told him how the girls died but that he expects more information to come out Monday. Earlier this week, Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said she did not know how the girls died. "We are hoping to find answers," Todd told reporters. "This is a terrible, tragic situation."