Previous Plain Dealer coverage

Camilia Terry's two children in county custody, where she had struggled

Camilia Terry tells of foster care, teen pregnancy in online posts

Candlelight vigil for Emilliano Terry

Search for missing 3-year-old Cleveland boy ends with body found at trash transfer station in Oakwood.

Cleveland police look for missing 3-year-old on East Side

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The 20-year-old mother of slain 3-year-old Emilliano Terry was arraigned this morning on an aggravated murder charge and held in lieu of a $2 million bond.

Prosecutor Brian Murphy told the judge that Emilliano died of blunt force trauma to the head. His skull was fractured, according to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office, Murphy said.

The medical examiner this afternoon said DNA tests confirm the body is Emilliano's.

After the arraignment, Camilia Terry's attorney, John Powers, said, "You should not rush to judgment. She is devastated and heartbroken."

Her grandfather, Lonnie Terry, said he hadn't seen Camilia for the last four years, but, "I'm pretty sure she is not capable of murder."

The case against Terry will now move from Cleveland Municipal Court to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, where a grand jury will consider additional charges, like abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence and obstructing justice. It is too soon to say whether the death penalty will be sought in the case, prosecutor's spokeswoman Maria Russo said.

The body was disfigured in the compacted trash and was also decomposed. Witnesses last saw Emilliano alive Wednesday, Nov. 21.

Investigators are trying to determine when and where the slaying occurred.

Commander Ed Tomba said Terry's multiple posts on social media are also being investigated. Someone using her name posted a desperate comment Nov. 21 in a blog about adoption. "We are well aware of all them," Tomba said.

911 call



Camilia Terry's tearful 9-1-1 call to police Sunday, Nov. 25, when she reported her son missing.

A spokeswoman for the Wanton Home Chapel of Peace Funeral Home said Thursday the boy's wake has been tentatively scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church on 12000 Shaker Boulevard in Cleveland, with a service starting at 11 a.m.

The search for Terry's son began Sunday at 5:15 p.m. and ended Monday afternoon, when FBI agents found a boy's body at a trash transfer station in Oakwood. The body was in a trash bag inside two other bags that had been picked up Monday from a Dumpster near Terry's apartment on Buckeye Road near East 130th Street, about a half-mile from Kossuth Park.

Search for little Emiliano Terry becomes a homicide 8 Gallery: Search for little Emiliano Terry becomes a homicide

Police initially searched the apartment and found nothing suspicious, according to the police report. They then obtained a search warrant and removed some items as possible evidence.

Terry, a Tri-C student, initially told police that Emilliano had vanished from the park at East 121st Street and Williams Avenue, but her story changed Monday, Fourth District Commander Deon McCaulley said. She is no longer speaking with investigators.

Community activists held a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening at the park. At least 100 people attended, including the grandmother of Emilliano's older brother. She is trying to gain custody of the 5-year-old. What, if anything, he saw the day his brother was killed is not yet known.

The Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services has emergency custody of the 5-year-old and Terry's 5-month-old.

Terry, who has no adult criminal history, was in foster care from 2007 through February, agency spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan said. Three months after she left foster care, Terry called the agency asking for help with the children.

Terry gave birth to her first son in 2007, when she was 14.

With Plain Dealer reporter Michael Sangiacomo.