DAYTON — The father who killed his 10-year-old son, Takoda Collins, told police he didn’t know why his son died when they interviewed him about the murder hours after they responded to his home in December 2019.
“That’s the thing I still don’t know if my child is dead, I still don’t know,” McLean told police. “They just told me he’s dead, but they didn’t tell me what killed him or anything like that.”
>> ‘What you did was pure evil’ Father, 2 others sentenced for the death of Takoda Collins
McLean’s conversation with police is being heard for the first time by the public after a News Center 7 public records request for the Takoda Collins case file after last month’s sentencing was fulfilled by Dayton Police this week. All three people convicted in the case took plea deals, so much of the evidence police had gathered in the case was never presented during a public trial and was not considered a public record until the case was finished.
McLean was sentenced to 51 years to life in prison late last month for what Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Dennis Adkins called “pure evil.”
“You provided no mercy to your son and you deserve none from this court,” Adkins told McLean during sentencing.
McLean’s fiancée Amanda Hinze also pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and child endangering. Hinze was sentenced to 22 to 27.5 years in prison. She had faced a maximum of up to 30 years in prison.
>> Father and fiancée plead guilty in Takoda Collins murder case
Hinze’s sister, Jennifer Ebert, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and other charges on May 27, 2020. Ebert was sentenced to eight to 12 years in prison. If she behaves if prison, she will serve eight years. If not, the state prison system can argue to keep her locked up until 12.
During the newly released interrogation video, McLean spoke for about 50 minutes with two Dayton police detectives.
>> I-Team: Lack of communication may have led to system failure in Takoda Collins’ death
McLean answered questions, often in rambling responses describing what he called a nightmare of taking care of a child who constantly injured himself, which McLean claimed the child did intentionally.
McLean said all the bruises on Collins’ body came from him rolling down the stairs or banging his head against doors and walls.
McLean admitted he’d moved Collins upstairs, claiming the child either could not or would not control his bowel functions.
>> Takoda Collins: Torture, abuse outlined before sentencing; defense argues for lesser sentence
McLean kept insisting he wasn’t responsible for Collins’ death, even after he made a 911 call because the child wasn’t responding.
“He said dad help, and I came upstairs, that’s why I’m shocked in this spot right now, not crying or nothing. I’m just like in shock, like my child really dead?” Al McLean said to police when the interviewed him about the crime. “Now I know them girls didn’t do nothing to them, kill him, I mean I just don’t understand it.”
The I-Team is continuing to look through the public records News Center 7 obtained Friday morning related to Collins’ murder to see if there is any other new information that had not been released before.
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