Cincinnati Police Arrest Sex Offender Anthony Kirkland After a Missing 13-Year-Old Jogger, Esme Kenney, Is Found Dead
Officers found Kirkland in nearby woods with Esme's iPod and watch. He had served time for a 1987 killing and had been questioned in two more in 2006.
Published
Cincinnati police searching for a missing 13-year-old jogger found Anthony Kirkland, a registered sex offender, in nearby woods with her iPod and watch. On March 8, 2009, he was arrested on a murder charge.
Esme Kenney left her home to go jogging on the afternoon of Saturday, March 7, and her mother called 9-1-1 at 4:21 p.m. to report her missing. Police searched abandoned houses and nearby woods, where two canine-unit officers found Kirkland sitting under some fir trees with knives in his pocket. He was carrying a purple watch and an iPod etched with Esme's name, which he said he had found in the woods. He first gave a false name, then his real name, and was taken to the police station. At around 3 a.m., searchers found Esme's body in the woods. That morning, Detective Keith Witherell, who had questioned Kirkland in 2007 about the 2006 deaths of Casonya Crawford, 14, and Mary Jo Newton, 45, interviewed him again. In 2007, police had no evidence to charge him.
Kirkland, 40, had gone to prison in 1987 for killing Leola Douglas and was released in 2003. In March 2008, he was convicted of soliciting sex from a 13-year-old girl, and when he was arrested he was also wanted in a March 1 stabbing. On March 17, 2009, a Hamilton County grand jury indicted him in the deaths of Esme, Casonya and Mary Jo Newton, and Prosecutor Joseph Deters said he would seek the death penalty. Kirkland was later convicted of the aggravated murders of Esme and Casonya and pleaded guilty to murdering Newton and a fourth woman, Kimya Rolison.
The Ohio Supreme Court wrote that Kirkland went to prison in 1987 after murdering Leola Douglas, while FOX19 reported that he had been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Sources
- State v. Kirkland, Slip Opinion No. 2014-Ohio-1966, Supreme Court of Ohio
- Kirkland indicted in 3 deaths, FOX19 / Associated Press
- City council asks Gov. to close halfway house, FOX19
- Why was Anthony Kirkland granted parole?, FOX19