“The court has received information that this matter was presented to the grand jury,” the docket in the case against John Cantrell says. “Therefore, the preliminary hearing is hereby canceled.”
The grand jury is mentioned in Moreland’s and Tchanavian Cantrell’s cases, too. Information about the grand jury hearing wasn’t available Thursday and Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes said grand jury hearings are secret and his office could not disclose information about it.
In Marquette Cantrell’s case, the docket says the preliminary hearing was waived.
The investigation began on Oct. 8. A Beavercreek school notified Greene County Children Services after receiving information that a child was being abused, according to court documents. One of the adults reportedly told the district the child was going to be home-schooled.
About a week later, the child showed up at school for class. School officials contacted an unnamed person because they thought the child was being homeschooled, according to an affidavit. When the child found out she was going to be picked up, she ran outside and into a wooded area nearby.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office responded and found the girl in a tree line near the school shortly after arriving. She told deputies she didn’t want to be returned because she was being physically abused, according to court documents. The sheriff’s office then contacted Greene County Children Services.
The child told a caseworker “whoopings” occurred anytime something went wrong and said the four suspects used a black belt, metal belt and brown belt to hit her, according to court records.
During an interview at Michael’s House Child Advocacy Center, the child said she received about 200 “licks” because she didn’t do chores correctly about two or three weeks ago, according to a court affidavit. The child also reported that alcohol was poured on the injuries and that other children in the home were brought out to watch.
A next date were not listed in the cases’ dockets.
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