CINCINNATI — A newly released 911 call made on Aug. 6 by a nurse at Mercy Health Rookwood reveals new details about how police came to find 7-year-old William Evans duct taped, bound and dead inside a closet in an Oakley apartment unit.
The nearly two-minute call was placed after a woman, believed to be William's mother, Kaitlin Evans, walked into the emergency room barefoot and seemingly in distress, claiming her son had been kidnapped.
Evans, 38, along with two other people, Kirby Rankin, 33, and Nessa Keaney, 23, face murder and child endangerment charges in connection with what one investigator called "one of the most disturbing examples of child abuse" he has witnessed in his decades-long law enforcement career.
Records show the 911 call came into dispatch Thursday afternoon, when the woman walked into the emergency room and laid down on the ground. The caller said, "I'm not sure if she is in danger or it's a psych emergency."
"We have somebody that came in and kind of just dropped herself on the floor," the nurse who made the 911 call said. "She's barefoot. She's saying that her partner is trying to kill her. That they took her son."
WATCH: 911 call reveals how police found 7-year-old Oakley boy bound, dead in closet
During the call, the woman believed to be Evans identified the person she claimed took her son as Kirby Rankin, her partner.
"She took him (William) up to the attic," the mother said.
According to the 911 call, dispatch sent police to both the emergency room and an Oakley apartment unit.
During arraignment hearings on Aug. 8, investigators said William suffered months-long abuse, including water and burn torture, blunt force injuries and beatings while in the care of the three defendants.
During the hearing, it was said Rankin disclosed their involvement in the abuse and implicated the other two as active participants. A judge ordered a competency hearing for Rankin for early September.
The charges follow a conviction Rankin received months ago for assaulting a woman in the Fairfield Jungle Jim's parking lot in January.
According to Fairfield police records, officers responded around 3:10 p.m. Jan. 4 to a report of a physical altercation between two women in the Jungle Jim’s parking lot.
The police report stated Rankin confronted Bunnell after accusing Bunnell of nearly hitting William with a car. Bunnell told police Rankin cursed at her and threatened to shoot Bunnell if Bunnell did not leave.
Surveillance footage reviewed by officers showed Bunnell walking away before Rankin approached again, pushed her and punched her in the face with a closed fist, according to the report. Bunnell suffered a concussion, three fractured teeth and a knee injury that required surgery, according to her husband.
Rankin was charged with assault and aggravated menacing and later convicted, remaining free on a $100,000 bond while awaiting sentencing.
William's cause of death has not been disclosed. The Hamilton County Coroner plans to hold a press conference Tuesday morning to discuss the findings.
In a statement over the weekend, William's grandparents and aunt said, "The pain of losing such a sweet, beautiful, innocent child is beyond description. We will love and miss him forever."
The family also shared a GoFundMe, in which they plan to use funds raised to build a memorial and foundation and the 7-year-old's honor.
