Butler Co. Children Services had no prior contact with James Hutchinson’s family, prosecutors say

MIDDLETOWN — Butler County Children Services had no prior contact with the family of James Hutchinson before the boy’s death, according to the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.

>>Search for 6-year-old James Hutchinson continues, body still not recovered

The statement from prosecutors is an update to information first released last week by Middletown police who initially said the children services agency was in contact with the family.

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“Please be advised that Butler County Children services had no contact with this family prior to the child’s death,” Butler County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Dan Ferguson said in a statement obtained by News Center 7 Monday.

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“Furthermore, other public statements to the contrary regarding children services records concerning the defendants in the Hutchinson case was misinformation as it pertained to Butler County Children Services Agency and constituted an unauthorized statement,” he said.

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Additionally Ferguson said the people responsible for making the comments have been “advised not to comment in such matters going forward.”

The comments from the prosecutor’s office likely come in response to a statement made by Middletown Police Chief David Birk during a news conference last Monday. During the news conference on Hutchinson’s death Birk was asked about prior contact with the family and children services.

Birk said in his answer that a children services agency had been involved with the family prior to the boy’s death, however he did not indicate which county or which children services agency was involved.

“Children services had been in touch with (the family) in the past. They have bumped around from hotels in different areas, they were in and out of the Middletown school district. So children services have been in touch with them in the past, but they do have the other two kids. They are safe and we’re thankful for that,” Birk said during the news conference.

A spokesperson for the City of Middletown and Middletown police declined to issue a statement in response to the comments from the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.

Meanwhile in Lawrenceburg, Indiana the search for Hutchinson’s body was again unsuccessful over the weekend.

According to police, Hutchinson was killed at Rush Run Wildlife Area in Preble County in the early morning hours of Feb. 27. About 24 hours later, the boy’s mother, Britney Gosney, 29, and her boyfriend, James Hamilton, 42, drove to Lawrenceburg and disposed of Hutchinson’s body into the Ohio River from the I-275 bridge.

Gosney and Hamilton were indicted on a combined 31 felony charges stemming from the boy’s death.

Cox Media Group