LaShanda Wilder and Martonio Wilder and the home where they lived in Columbus, Ohio. Cops claim she murdered him. (Mug shot: Franklin County Jail; image of Martonio: Columbus Division of Police; screenshot of home: WBNS)
The search for a missing Ohio boy ended in tragedy after his mother allegedly stalled law enforcement efforts and abruptly left the home with her lover on Friday evening, Columbus police said in reports from local NBC affiliate WCMH and CBS affiliate WBNS. Cops said they obtained a search warrant and looked in the attic where they found Martonio Wilder, 8, dead in a trash bag and sleeping bag.
His mother, LaShanda Delores Wilder, 32, and her lover, Johnna Lowe, 33, turned themselves into officers the following afternoon, cops said.
Both are charged with obstruction of justice, but only the mother faces a count of murder. The coroner determined that Martonio died of a homicide and had sustained “deep neck compression.”
Authorities did not suggest a motive.
