Anthony Kirkland: 'There's One More'

Reported by: Tom McKee
Last Update: 3/11 5:46 pm

CINCINNATI -- Suspected serial killer Anthony Kirkland has admitted to murdering a fourth young woman -- Kimya Rolison.

The statement came Thursday as his taped confession was played for a jury in his murder trial at the Hamilton County Courthouse.

Det. Bill Hilbert was almost finished questioning Kirkland about the killings of Mary Jo Newton, Casonya "Sharee" Crawford and Esme Kenney, when Kirkland said, "there's one more."

Kirkland proceeded to describe his encounter with a prostitute named "Kim."

He said they had sex in his van in Fairview Park in Fairview Heights just before Christmas in 2006. Police came across them and told them to leave the area.

He said he paid Rolison $40, but was mugged when he tried to drop her off at her apartment.

They headed toward University Hospital where Kirkland could be examined, but he balked at going there. The pair ended up in his van parked near the intersection of Central Parkway, Martin Luther King Drive and Hopple Street.

It was there Kirkland said they got into an argument, she produced a knife that he used to stab her in the throat.

"Where at in the throat?" asked Det. Hilbert.

"In the jugular," Kirkland replied.

"Just a lucky shot or did you know what you were doing?" Det. Hilbert continued.

"Just a lucky shot," Kirkland replied matter-of-factly.

Kirkland said they panicked and he just tried to keep the woman calm.

"I told her the blood was coming out too fast, too quick," he said. "She told me she couldn't feel her legs."

At that point, Kirkland said he just held the woman as she died. Later, he took the body to the dead end of Pulte Street in North Fairmount, dumped it in a wooded area and set it on fire. He came back a few weeks later and all that was left was skeletal remains.

In that same statement, Kirkland admitted using a rag and his hands to strangle 13-year-old Esme Kenney to death after sexually assaulting her in March of 2009.

Kirkland said he used the rag because his hands hurt from being out in the cold. He said he choked the girl with his hands, but couldn't grab well enough and pulled a blue rag from his back pocket.

"She was still living and gasping," he said. "I was behind her. She was on her stomach."

Once again, Kirkland apologized for his actions.

"The more I talk this out I can get peace," he told Detective Hilbert.

"I'm not saying it was her fault. It was never her fault," Kirkland said. "The reason I had sex with her is that she said she would do whatever I wanted her to do if I didn't hurt her."

Asked if he knew how old Kenney was, Kirkland replied, "13."

"She was a teenage baby," he added.

Dr. Karen Looman, a forensic pathologist for the Hamilton County Coroner's Office, performed the autopsy on Esme Kenney. In her testimony, she informed the jury that the cause of death was "asphyxiation by ligature strangulation" from a prolonged and violent struggle.

When Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier asked Dr. Looman what the manner was of Kenney's death according to her scientific opinion, she replied with a single word: "Homicide."

Court has now ended for the day.

Closing arguments are scheduled for Friday morning, following by Judge Kubicki's charge to the jury and then deliberations.

If found guilty of killing Crawford and Kenney, Kirkland could be sentenced to death. That will be determined by the same jury next week.

Kirkland has already pleaded guilty to the Newton and Rolison murders.

From: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story/Anthony-Kirkland-Theres-One-More/xJVjh2ZQkE6sOghT1xSGtQ.cspx