CINCINNATI — The man accused of murdering his girlfriend and putting her 3-year-old son into the Ohio River has pleaded guilty to their murders.
In court Wednesday, Desean Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated murder. Brown previously faced two counts of aggravated murder, one count of gross abuse of a corpse and one count of tampering with evidence.
Judge Leah Dinkelacker took the prosecution's sentencing recommendation and sentenced Brown to two life sentences without the possibility of parole. Brown previously faced the death penalty.
It's been nearly five years since Nylo and Nyteisha Lattimore were tragically killed and Desean Brown was arrested for their murders.
Nyteisha was stabbed to death in her home Dec. 5, 2020 according to police. Her body would not be discovered until Dec. 12, 2020 when officers found it abandoned on Pete Rose Way in downtown Cincinnati.
Brown let Nyteisha's body sit in her apartment for at least five days, prosecutors said, before using a body bag to remove it from the apartment. Prosecutors have shown stills from surveillance footage dated Dec. 11 showing Brown carrying a large bag through a hallway in her Walnut Hills apartment building.
Prosecutors said they believe 3-year-old Nylo was thrown into the river alive one day after Nyteisha's murder, on Dec. 6. Nylo's empty stroller was discovered along the Ohio River, not far from where his mother's body was located, on Dec. 13.
Nylo's body has never been recovered.
WATCH: Nylo Lattimore's father attacks his son's accused murderer in court
Cincinnati police detectives have said in court that it appeared Nyteisha was pregnant with Brown's child, but had a miscarriage. Detectives believe Brown killed her and Nylo out of retaliation for the miscarriage.
The prosecutor’s office previously released the following timeline of events they believe unfolded:
- Dec. 5, 2020 – Desean Brown kills Nyteisha Lattimore
- Dec. 6, 2020 – Brown throws Nylo in the river, alive
- Dec. 11, 2020 – Brown takes the body bag containing Nyteisha’s body to the Purple People Bridge
- Dec. 12, 2020 – Nyteisha’s body discovered by law enforcement
- Dec. 13, 2020 – Nylo’s stroller is located in the river
Prosecutors also told us they believe that while Nyteisha's body was still in the apartment, Brown accessed her phone to post and communicate on Facebook, posing as her.
One post, dated Dec. 5 — the day of Nyteisha's death — read: "I love him forever Desean Brown."
"While the evidence was strong, the plea spares the victims' family years of painful appeals," Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich wrote in a press release after the hearing. "The agreement was initially offered under the prior administration but was finalized after Brown was recently found competent to stand trial."
