COLUMBUS, Ohio – As the New Year dawned, a 14-month-old boy lay dead and his mother was in jail charged in connection with his disappearance but with many questions lingering, unanswered, about how Cameron Beckford died and the roles the adults in his life may have played in causing his death.
The search for Cameron ended late Wednesday morning when search teams pulled a bag containing the boy’s body from Big Walnut Creek, police spokesman Sgt. Rich Weiner said.
His mother, Dainesha Stevens (right), who was visiting Columbus with her children from their home in Frederick, Md., was already in police custody on felony charges of child endangering and tampering with evidence and her male companion was jailed on unrelated charges.
She appeared in court Wednesday and was ordered held on $150,000 bond.
Police began looking for Cameron Monday when Stevens, 24, told police informed that she and a man whose name was not released by police left the toddler on the doorstep of a home on the Southeast Side because they could not care for him any longer, Weiner said. Stevens’ attorney, Mark Collins, said his client made up the story about abandoning the boy.
A charging document says Stevens failed to protect the boy by allowing someone to violently spank him several times.
Stevens told officers responding to a call about a missing child at a home on Morse Crossing on Monday that her six year-old daughter was taken to an unknown location by friends, Weiner said.
While being questioned at the scene, Stevens revealed that her daughter had been reported missing from Maryland on Sunday and that her 14-month-old sibling was also missing, said Weiner. Police found the girl in goods condition at a home on the west side of Columbus and Weiner says she was taken to Franklin County Children Services.
Stevens was taken to police headquarters and questioned by Special Victims Bureau investigators into Cameron’s whereabouts. Weiner says the man was found, brought to headquarters for questioning, and jailed on unrelated warrants.
Information led searchers to a remote area near the intersection of Noe Bixby Road and Myers Road on the East Side where mounted patrol officers found Cameron’s body in a bag in Big Walnut Creek late Wednesday morning after an extensive search , Weiner said.