Background: News footage from Dayton, Ohio, showing where the remains of Hershall Creachbaum were discovered (WHIO). Insets (left to right): Hershall Creachbaum, Ashley H. Johnson, and Michael Kendrick (Dayton Police Department).
An Ohio mother and her boyfriend were both arrested in connection with the death of her 7-year-old son, whose remains were found near her home.
A few hours following the disappearance report of 7-year-old Hershall Creachbaum on a Saturday, filed by his mother’s boyfriend, 39-year-old Michael Kendrick, police discovered the remains of a child less than half a mile from his home. Dayton Police announced that the remains were believed to be those of Hershall. Following the tragic end to the search for the boy, who had nonverbal autism and required a wheelchair, an investigation into his supposed abduction uncovered the unsettling detail that Hershall had seemingly not been seen for several weeks.
The boy’s mother, 36-year-old Ashley H. Johnson, during a police interview, allegedly informed authorities that Hershall had passed away “sometime while she was in the hospital undergoing surgery in late May,” as per court documents accessed by local CBS affiliate WHIO.
In a press conference on Monday, Dayton Police Chief Kamran Afzal confirmed that before being reported missing by Kendrick, the boy “had not been seen for several weeks.” It was later believed that he had never been missing and was dead the whole time, police said.
According to court documents, Johnson told police that while she was having surgery in May, Hershall was in Kendrick’s care. Police said that Kendrick initially said that Hershall had died of natural causes, but later allegedly admitted to punching the boy before he “pushed him down, causing him to bounce off the floor and striking other parts of his body.” Kendrick allegedly stated that Hershall later died in the shower.
Police said that Kendrick admitted to keeping the boy’s body in the home “until he started to smell,” then placed his remains in a freezer. Kendrick then allegedly “stuffed him into a suitcase and disposed of his body in a grassy field near train tracks.” Weeks later, he reportedly went back to his first disposal site, put Hershall’s remains in a bag, and left them at the location where they were recovered.
WHIO reported that family members expressed concerns about Hershall for months. Relatives told the station that Hershall had been in his paternal grandmother’s custody until she was injured in a car accident, at which point Johnson retained custody.
During his press conference, Chief Afzal confirmed that Montgomery County Children Services had been involved with the family and had taken custody of Hershall’s sister.
Neither Johnson nor Kendrick has been charged with murder. Both are in custody at the Dayton County Jail. Johnson was charged with failure to report a death and obstructing justice and is being held on $2,000 bond. Kendrick was charged with three counts of tampering with evidence and one count of abuse of a corpse. Jail records include charges of murder, child endangerment, and assault; however, he has not been formally charged on those counts. He is being held without bond.
