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COVINGTON -A baby-sitter for a one-year-old Covington boy found dead in an apartment in Cincinnati has been charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

Cincinnati Police on Saturday charged Marquita Burch, 26, after she reported one-year-old William Cunningham missing Friday afternoon and later recanted her story. She had been baby-sitting the toddler Friday at the City Heights public housing complex in Covington, said Sgt. Gary Conner, homicide unit supervisor.

Cunningham�s body was found in a hall closet of an apartment on Winton Road in Cincinnati, according to Cincinnati Police, who didn�t reveal the address.

Burch told police Cunningham died on Sheehan Avenue and directed police to where she moved the body, a release from the Cincinnati Police stated. 

Authorities still don�t know how the toddler died, Conner said. 

The child was last seen in the City Heights housing complex. 

Acting Covington Police Chief Spike Jones said police received a call Friday evening from a babysitter that the child had wandered away from a playground at City Heights. About 100 police, firefighters and other emergency responders searched the City Heights area for five hours Friday night but found no trace of the child, Jones said. 

Jones said police eventually determined the child was not in the area when the dogs found no scent. 

�All the fire and police rescue units looking for child, desperately searching for him, all because the lady gave misinformation to us,� Jones said. 

�The situation as it is, any time there is a loss of life, let alone a one-year-old, it is an extremely sad situation,� Jones said.

The death of the child shocked residents of City Heights. 

Steven Sims joined the search party to look for Cunningham. 

�I couldn�t believe it,� Sims said. �I don�t have kids, but I�ve got little brothers and sisters, and I would do anything to find them.�

Miriam Armstrong didn�t know the child or his family but said his death concerns her. His death should spur a town meeting on how to address the ongoing issues of crime in the housing complex. 

�You have to take heed, because you could know your neighbor and not know your neighbor,� Armstrong said. 

The news of Cunningham�s death dismayed Sam Johnson, who�s lived in City Heights for 21 years.

�We gotta stick together and gotta have faith, not faith in other people, but you�ve got to have faith in God,� Johnson said.

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http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20120526/NEWS0103/305260106/Charges-stem-from-toddler-s-death?odyssey=nav|head


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