Crews unable to locate bodies of James Hutchinson, Nylo Lattimore after hours-long search in Lawrenceburg

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (FOX19) - North Star International Search and Recovery and Ohio LandSAR were unable to locate the bodies of 6-year-old James Hutchinson and 3-year-old Nylo Lattimore after they conducted a 6-hour search in Lawrenceburg Saturday.

A search the previous weekend was hampered by high water, but crews say the Ohio River has receded a great deal.

“Today, thank goodness, the river has gone down, so we have dive teams on standby,” Tracy Campbell with North Star International Search and Recovery said Saturday prior to the search. “We’re going to have boats with sonar in the water. We’re going to have ground crews, K9s, several police agencies once again. So, we’re going to have some success.”

Crews have been searching for James since his mother, Brittany Gosney, 29, reported him missing in late February but then confessed to killing him when she tried to abandon him, Middletown police said.

Officers say Gosney threw Hutchinson into the river. The Preble County Sheriff’s Office says she claimed she was pressured to do that by her boyfriend, James Hamilton.

Court documents say Gosney is charged with murder, abuse of a corpse, and tampering with evidence. Hamilton is also charged with abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.

A judge set Gosney’s bond at $2 million, while Hamilton’s bond is set at $750,000.

Crews have been searching for Nylo since he was reported missing on Dec. 4. His mother was stabbed to death on Dec. 5, but her body was found near the Purple People Bridge in the early morning hours of Dec. 12.

Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters says Desean Brown, 20, killed Nylo’s mother Nyteisha Lattimore and put the boy into the Ohio River alive.

His stroller was located in the Ohio River near where his mother’s body was found.

Brown will face the death penalty in connection with both killings, according to Deters.

He is held at the Hamilton County Justice Center without bond.

Campbell says this search hits home with the volunteers because some of them are parents themselves.

“They deserve better. Pretty many of us are all parents, we have kids of our own, and this is not how it should be. So we need to bring them home and have them a proper place to rest,” Campbell said.

She says they did not want volunteers other than those who are certified to search for the bodies because “it could do more harm than good.”

Campbell did suggest that anyone who would like to help can go to the North Star International Search and Recovery website and donate.

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