An Ohio mother has admitted to abandoning her three young children in a park and killing her six-year-old son when he desperately tried to get back in her car and was dragged as she drove away.
Brittany Gosney, 29, of Middletown, Ohio, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering children and one count of unclassified murder on Monday.
Prosecutors said the mother of four brought three of her children to a park in Preble County on February 26 with the intention of abandoning them.
As she sped away from the kids her six-year-old son, James Hutchinson, grabbed for the car door handle and fell, suffering a fatal blow to the head.
Gosney returned to the park 40 minutes later to find the boy dead. She then took his body, and her other two kids aged seven and nine, home.
Two days later Gosney’s boyfriend, 43-year-old James Hamilton, allegedly helped her dump the child in the Ohio River, weighted down with a concrete block.
Brittany Gosney, 29, (pictured) of Middletown, Ohio, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering children and one count of unclassified murder on Monday
James Hutchinson, six, (pictured) was left at a park in Preble County with two of his young siblings and was fatally injured after he hit his head as he held onto the door of his mother’s van on February 26
Gosney is due back in Butler County Court for sentencing on September 13.
She faces 15 years to life in prison for murder and 36 months for each child endangerment charge.
‘I think she obviously understands the significance of the decisions she made,’ defense attorney David Washington told WLWT on Monday.
‘I think that she’s going to have to deal with this the rest of her life and her children are going to have to deal with it the rest of their lives.’
Gosney initially faced 16 felony charges related to involuntary manslaughter and multiple counts of endangering children, abduction and kidnapping.
She originally pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in April but still stood in court after a psychological evaluation.
Gosney and her boyfriend James Hamilton, 43, dumped Hutchinson’s body in the Ohio River after she left it in their Middletown home for two days
Hamilton pressured Gosney to get rid of her children multiple times, including a failed attempt for Gosney to get the custody of her children relinquished
Gosney is pictured during her arraignment in March
After bringing James’ body home Gosney held it in a spare room for two days before dumping it in the Ohio River near Lawrenceburg, Indiana, with the help of her boyfriend Hamilton, prosecutors said.
A concrete block was used to weigh the boy’s body down as is body was thrown into the river, according to WXIX.
Nearly six months later James’ body still has not been found. The Middleton Police Department did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment about progress on the search.
A memorial was held for James in front of his former home as the Middletown community honored him with balloons and stuffed animals.
The reasoning behind the children’s abandonment was based on pressure from Hamilton and she previously attempted to relinquish custody of them with no success, prosecutors said.
Gosney and Hamilton were indicted together on a 31-count charge with more than half relating to an incident where one of her children was hog-tied
The couple were previously indicted together earlier this year on a 31-count charge, 18 of them relating to an incident in which one of Hutchinson’s siblings was hog-tied.
‘We have two living children who have already been through trauma that no child should ever experience and this guilty plea prevents them from going through further trauma, at least as it relates to a case against their mother,’ said Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Heile, according to WLBT.
Hamilton also appeared in court and still faces 15 charges for corpse abuse, tampering with evidence, endangering children, kidnapping and abduction.
Hamilton still faces 15 charges for corpse abuse, tampering with evidence, endangering children, kidnapping and abduction. He plead not guilty and is due to appear in court again this month as well as a jury hearing on Oct. 4
He plead not guilty to the judge and is due to appear in court again later this month with a jury trial also scheduled for October 4 if he does not take the plea.
Hamilton is currently being held on a $750,000 bond.
The other children were removed from the home and were placed in foster care or with Child Services, according to authorities.
Posts from Gosney’s multiple Facebook accounts indicate that she has four children: two daughters and two sons.
Gosney described herself on social media as ‘Full Time Mommy!’ and regularly shared photos of her smiling children and Hamilton, whom she referred to as her ‘husband’ and her ‘everything.’
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said in a statement: ‘She gave up the right to be called anything but a defendant in this office – not mom or mother.’