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It’s called Saranac Playground, and when the weather is nice, it attracts kids who live in East Cleveland.
But in recent days, this little patch of greenery has been visited by a flood of mourners seeking to pay their respects to two little girls who were found there stuffed in suitcases and buried in shallow graves.
In the days following the bodies of Mila Chatman, 8, and her half-brother, Amor Wilson, 10, were found on Mondaya sanctuary of stuffed animals and flowers has developed.
The mystery surrounding their deaths too.
Their mother, Aliyah Henderson, 28, was charged with two counts of aggravated murder.
At her first appearance Friday in Cleveland Municipal Court, she was not questioned about the tragedy that left her in handcuffs, shocked her hometown and attracted national attention.
Municipal Court Judge Jeffrey Johnson set Henderson’s bond at $2 million, citing “the nature of the allegations” and his concern for public safety.
Wearing a blue sweatshirt and surrounded by court officers, Henderson remained impassive.
“Thank you” were the only words she uttered during the brief hearing, in response to the judge wishing her good luck.
Earlier, assistant prosecutor Kristine Travaglini revealed during the hearing that the bodies of the little girls were “severely decomposed”.
So far, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office has not said how or when the little girls died, but confirmed that a DNA investigation showed they were related as half-siblings.
Cleveland Police Chief Dorothy Todd said neither child was dismembered.
Henderson, who lives near Saranac Playground, had another child living in her home when police arrested her Wednesday, Todd said earlier this week.
The Department of Children and Family Services took custody of the child, who appears healthy, Todd said. But she provided no further information about the child.
A man walking his dog reported the grim discovery Monday at the playground, located near an all-boys public school called Ginn Academy.
In response to the 911 call, Cleveland homicide detectives confirmed that the man’s dog had located the body of a young girl and they quickly found a second shallow grave with a suitcase containing another body.
“It was like a pile of dirt, and she stopped to sniff … and she took too long,” Phillip Donaldson told WEWS-TV. “So I went back and looked, and it was a half-buried suitcase, and I brought it back up and looked in it, and it was a head. Someone’s head in there.”
Donaldson said that pile of dirt had been there for at least a week.
On Thursday, Deshaun Chatman, who said he was Mila Chatman’s father, visited the site where the girl was buried. He told local journalists that he had not had any contact with his daughter for several years. He said Henderson kept “dodging” him and had been in contact with DCFS several times to gain custody of Mila.
“I just feel useless,” Chatman said. “I couldn’t save my daughter.”
Asked about Deshaun Chatman’s claim that he tried to gain custody of his daughter, Cuyahoga County spokesperson Jennifer Ciaccia in a statement called the girls’ deaths “a tragedy for their families and our entire community” and declined to release any further information, citing an active criminal investigation and confidentiality obligations under Ohio law.
NBC News has reached out to Henderson’s mother for comment.
In 2019, Henderson and her daughters were mentioned in an article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer about a local hospital’s program to help struggling families.
It featured a photo of a smiling Henderson holding Amor, then 3, on his lap and of Henderson’s mother holding Mila, who was almost 2 at the time.
“I could really use some help,” Henderson said in the story.
