Drugged Out Parents Turn Son Into Concrete Statue
Kane McWilliams was born on December 20th, 2010, in Colorado to parents Elisha McWilliams Panky and Leland Panky. Some reports indicated that Leland was Kaden’s stepfather, but information that we’ll get to later on in the episode proved otherwise. Elisha and Leland were married in 2014, after which Kaden’s sister was born. However, things weren’t happy in the Panky household. In November of 2017, Leland began beating Elisha. According to their landlord, Elisha had recently changed from being a really outgoing person to a hermit that just wanted to stay in her house.
The family was evicted in early 2018, after which they began staying in area hotels. During the 2017-2018 school year, Kaden attended Ellis Elementary School. His principal, Nicole Whiteman, described him as a hard worker who did well academically and who was always positive, caring, and who lived the Ellis core value of integrity. In her words, “At Ellis, Kaden stood out from others from the moment he walked through the school doors every morning with a huge smile on his face. His smile and eyes showed how kind and sweet he was at the core. Other students wanted to be his friend and looked to Kaden for what to do next.”
According to his teacher, Christina Hafler, “He was always such a bright, shining student. He was always so kind, he was so popular. He would walk into the cafeteria and kids would say, ‘Kaden, come sit by me.’ Everybody was always so excited to see him. He was always smiling and such a pleasure to have in class.” Kaden last attended school on May 24, 2018, even though the school year didn’t end until May 31st. In August of 2018, Elisha notified Kaden’s school that he wouldn’t be coming back; in fact, she was going to homeschool him.
This will become very important later in our story. According to her Facebook page, Elisha worked for IHS Markit, which later merged with S&P Global. Per their website, the company is the world’s foremost provider of credit ratings, benchmarks, and analytics in the global capital and commodity markets. It is unclear what exactly Elisha did in her role, but she was employed as a temporary worker. Elisha was contracted to work for the company through April of 2018, but her contract was later extended until August.
Employees of the company were allowed to work from home, but Elisha worked at the company’s satellite office in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, about 95 percent of the time. When pressed on why she came into the office, Elisha replied that “she would rather work in the office than at home.” In fact, Elisha rarely left the office at all. Co-workers claimed that she was there all of the time, almost every day, and would eat lunch at the office, never leaving to get take-out or go to run errands. According to one co-worker, Elisha was often still there after everyone had left for the day.
After Elisha was involved in a car accident, another temporary worker would give her rides home where they would engage in small talk. During one of those conversations, Elisha stated that “her husband Leland was a stay-at-home dad and she was the sole provider of income for their family of four.” On December 21st of 2018, officers and detectives with the Aurora PD responded to a call at the Aurora Extended Stay Hotel located at 14095 East Evans Avenue regarding a DV complaint.
There, they were met by 41-year-old Elisha McWilliams Panky, who had made the call regarding her husband, Leland, who wasn’t actually staying at the same hotel as her. Leland was renting a room at the TownePlace Suites located at 3699 South Monaco Parkway in Denver. By means of their investigation, authorities were able to establish that the couple had two children: a baby girl that has not been named due to her age, and a boy, seven-year-old Kaden McWilliams. When asked about the whereabouts of the two children, Elisha informed the detectives that “they were with their father, Leland.”
While speaking with Elisha, a substance suspected to be heroin was observed in the room. As such, the room was secured and a search warrant was obtained by the Aurora PD. While Elisha was being transported to the police station, the search warrant led detectives to suspected heroin, and detectives also found a business card for a Public Storage facility located at 5005 East Evans Avenue in Denver. The access code was written on the back, and Detective Brandon Meadows contacted the storage facility and was advised that Elisha had been renting the storage unit since May 17th of 2018.
After the search of Elisha’s room had concluded, it was locked and secured. That same day, both Denver and Aurora police officers responded to the TownePlace Suites to have a chat with Leland Panky. Officers found Leland in the parking lot getting into a black 2009 BMW. Leland had an active DV arrest warrant listed on the National Crime Information Center database with Elisha listed as the victim. As such, he was taken into custody for questioning and his vehicle was towed to the Denver Police Impound Lot.
A cursory search of his BMW yielded a half ounce of crystal meth. While in custody, officers asked him about the whereabouts of his children, as Elisha claimed that they were with him. Leland claimed that “one of his children was at a daycare center located near I-225 and Parker Road,” but changed the subject and avoided answering questions about Kaden. Eventually, Leland suggested that “Kaden was with Elisha.” Due to the active DV warrants, he was ultimately placed under arrest and transported to the Aurora PD.
The next part of our story is a little convoluted because so much has been redacted from official reports. On December 21st, Aurora police detective Jeffrey Prince interviewed a 24-year-old woman who claimed that Leland had told her that “he had lost his son three weeks prior.” According to the woman, Leland told her that “it was too much to handle, he hadn’t grieved, and he needed to get help from someone.” She told Detective Prince that Leland told her that “her family could have his storage” and later that “he didn’t want anything to do with it because it had too many memories.”
Aurora police officers responded to the Parker Learning Center located at 3104 South Parker Road in Aurora. There, they met with an employee and discovered that Elisha and Leland’s daughter was indeed at the location. The employee advised the officers that Leland had spoken to his staff on November 29th. Allegedly, on that date, Leland said that “he wanted his daughter to be social with the other kids at the center because she had lost her brother.”
Meanwhile, both Elisha and Leland were sitting at the Aurora Police Department being grilled about the whereabouts of Kaden, after which they both asked for a lawyer. On December 23rd, Detective Meadows of the Aurora PD prepared a search warrant for the couple’s storage unit on East Evans Avenue, which was subsequently approved by a judge. The same day, detectives with the Crimes Against Children unit responded to the storage unit. In addition, two K-9 handlers and their partners from Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States responded to assist.
Both K-9 teams were deploying cadaver dogs. At approximately 9:05 a.m., an employee at the storage facility removed the lock from Elisha and Leland’s unit, and at around 9:59 that same morning, detectives raised the door and began their search. Numerous photographs were taken before anyone entered the unit. At a glance, the unit contained a few plastic storage totes, a large pile of clothing, and miscellaneous items. Located at the back closer to the door, detectives found several gallon-sized water bottles and a couple of partially empty bags of Quikrete brand concrete.
Granular pieces of pre-mixed concrete covered much of the floor of the unit. Along the eastern side was a rectangular-shaped object that was wrapped with layers of black trash bags and silver duct tape. The object was roughly two to three feet tall and two feet across. K-9 handlers Kathy Wright and Melissa Kint both deployed their K-9 partners, Sam and Hawk, within the open storage unit, and neither K-9 alerted to any odors.
Detective Patrick McGinty began the search of the unit by cutting away the layers of the black plastic from the rectangular-shaped object. Each layer was tightly wrapped against the next interior layer, and many layers contained duct tape. After he removed several layers, he began to detect a strong odor. After the K-9s were deployed again, both showed noticeable interest in the rectangular-shaped object. Both handlers advised that their K-9 partners had displayed their individual trained indication, which signaled the presence of the odor of human remains.
Based on the new information learned during the brief search, detectives halted their efforts and secured the scene pending the arrival of homicide detectives from the Denver Police Department. After obtaining information from the members of the Aurora PD, Denver homicide detective Carrie Johnson responded to the Denver PD headquarters and authored another search warrant for the storage unit, which was signed by Judge Olympia Faye at 2:53 p.m. that same day.
At around 3 p.m., Detectives Marty Smith and Carrie Johnson entered the unit with their search warrant. The unit contained numerous items of evidentiary value that were measured, photographed, and collected as evidence. Among those items that were found was a large plastic dog crate with a block of cement inside it. Denver PD bomb technician Kurt Peterson X-rayed the dog crate; however, the X-rays were inconclusive as to whether anything was contained inside the block of cement.
As such, the dog crate was transported to the Denver Medical Examiner’s office. Numerous bags of Quikrete and large bottles of water were collected as evidence. As mentioned prior, the Quikrete mixture was prevalent on the floor of the unit and appeared to be mixed and placed inside of the dog crate. At 7:45 p.m., the Denver PD crime lab and detectives finished collecting evidence that was in plain view. At 8 p.m., Detective Smith secured the door and placed a lock on the unit.
On Christmas Eve, while the citizens of Denver were out celebrating with their families, the Denver Medical Examiner’s office identified and removed the remains of what appeared to be an adolescent from the block of cement. The body was decomposed and a visual identification could not be made. Later that same day, a third search warrant for the storage unit was approved and signed by a judge. Detective Smith from the Denver PD crime lab completed the search and documented the contents of the unit in its entirety.
On December 29th, at 3 in the afternoon, Aurora PD Sergeant John Kessler contacted Detective Smith of the Denver PD and advised him that officers were at the Aurora Extended Stay Hotel with a female witness that claimed to have information about a seven-year-old boy that had been killed and placed into a dog crate. Aurora PD officer Stacy Sparks, who was involved and familiar with the case, was already on location and meeting with the reporting party. Also present were officers Nick Langdon and Jason Weber.
After Officer Sparks spoke with the witness, she was sure that she had all of the information pertaining to the case. At 3:12 p.m., Officer Nick Langdon contacted Detective Smith. He told him that “the witness had been staying at the Aurora Extended Stay Hotel with Elisha Panky and that Elisha told her that a little boy died inside of an animal carrier and was currently in her storage unit.” At approximately 4 p.m., Detective Smith arrived at the hotel and met with the witness, who agreed to go to the Denver PD headquarters for an interview.
At 6:51 p.m., Detective Smith began a video-recorded interview with the witness. She said that she had met Elisha at the Arapahoe County Jail on December 22nd. They were both in the same cell block, shared conversations with each other, and were released at the same time on December 24th. Yes, even though a body was found inside of her storage unit, Elisha was released from jail. While they were in jail together, Elisha allegedly told the witness that “her son was missing and that her husband Leland was the last person her son was known to be with.”
When they were released on December 24th, the witness went to stay with Elisha at the hotel after only two days of knowing one another. The witness shared that she was with Elisha at the Arapahoe County Courthouse when detectives showed up, took a saliva sample from her, and gave her a piece of paper indicating that she was a suspect in her son’s death. The witness testified that the previous day, Elisha told her that “the little boy had died in the dog crate.”
Elisha shared with her that her husband and the two children were staying at the hotel, but she couldn’t exactly remember where the hotel was located. She told the witness that “Leland would tell the boy to go into the dog crate and she would do the same whenever she needed to take a shower.” Allegedly, the little boy was in the dog crate in late July and Leland had put blankets on top of the dog crate. Elisha told the woman that “she heard her son cry out that he was hot and thirsty,” but rather than help her own son, she just stayed in bed.
She said that the following morning she got up and found that the little boy had died, possibly of suffocation. Leland also checked on his son to verify that he was indeed dead. According to the witness, Elisha took the dog crate with the little boy still inside and put it in their car. Afterward, they drove to a store and bought concrete and industrial-strength trash bags. Elisha told the woman that “they then drove to the storage unit, poured concrete into the carrier, and wrapped it in trash bags.”
As a result of the witness’s sworn testimony, an arrest warrant for CA resulting in death was prepared by Detective Smith. On January 2nd, 2019, Elisha Panky turned herself in to the Denver PD and was placed under arrest. On January 7, 2019, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced the filing of formal charges against Elisha Panky. In a press release, D.A. McCann stated, “Thanks to the tenacious work by both the Aurora and Denver police departments, we now know that young Kaden was not only missing for several months, he was no longer alive. This is a terrible tragedy for the community. While this case will take time to resolve, it will take even longer for our community to learn and heal.”
On January 8th, Denver District Attorney investigator Teresa Wirtz spoke with an employee of the storage facility. The employee advised the investigator that on May 17, 2018, Elisha Panky opened an account with their company. DNA samples from Elisha and Leland were compared to a DNA profile that was obtained from the juvenile encased in the concrete. On January 10th, forensic scientist Eric Duvall determined that Leland and Elisha Panky were in fact the biological parents of the adolescent found encased in the concrete block. It was Kaden McWilliams.
On January 15th, Denver PD crime scene investigator Michael Bush downloaded the Evans lot surveillance videos. During that roughly seven-month period, both Leland and Elisha were caught on camera numerous times both together and separately accessing the gate and the storage unit. On January 20th, Detective Smith interviewed Leland at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. During that interview, Leland denied having a key to the storage unit. He stated that “he had access when the couple first moved their belongings into the unit,” but continued that “he no longer had a key and he never accessed or entered the storage unit again.”
However, video surveillance caught Leland entering the lot via Elisha’s code on September 27, 2018. He was there for roughly 13 minutes. On February 28th, the Denver Coroner’s office released the autopsy report for Kaden McWilliams. According to the report, in Dr. Frank’s opinion, “Kaden McWilliams died as a result of homicide by undetermined means with child maltreatment serving as a significant contributing condition.” Dr. Frank also noted severe emaciation; seven-year-old Kaden only weighed 27 pounds.
The autopsy findings revealed numerous injuries of the head, torso, and extremities. A test revealed metabolites of meth in Kaden’s liver tissue. Dr. Frank determined that “given the highly suspicious nature of his death, the findings of the autopsy, and that Kaden was a young child who was dependent on others for his care, the manner of death was a homicide.” On March 15th, Elisha Panky was interviewed at the Denver PD headquarters. Elisha revealed that near the end of May 2018, the family moved into a room at the InTown Suites.
She shared that “Leland was solely responsible for the care of Kaden and his little sister.” She stated that “she was well aware that her husband was mistreating Kaden” and “she also knew that Leland wasn’t feeding him.” Around July 11, 2018, three days prior to Kaden’s death, Elisha was taking a nap when she awoke to Leland yelling. She observed Leland holding Kaden by the neck up against the wall; the little boy’s feet were not touching the ground.
Afterward, Leland took Kaden to the bathroom where Elisha claimed she heard a ruckus, “what sounded like things hitting the walls.” She claimed that she never heard Kaden cry out in pain or cry at all. Leland then left the little boy in the bathroom and told Elisha something cryptic: “that they couldn’t save both children and that they could take Kaden to the mountains to bury him.” Elisha said that a few days prior to his death, Leland kept him inside of the dog crate.
She confirmed that the day that they found her son dead, they purchased Quikrete, trash bags, and water. They drove Kaden to their storage unit, mixed the concrete, and poured it into the crate. Even though Elisha claimed Kaden died in mid-July, authorities believed he was killed in May, around the same time that she pulled him from school. On March 29th, the Denver Coroner’s office provided a forensic anthropology report which indicated anti-mortem injuries in different stages of healing.
Injuries to the frontal bone, nasal bones, and right orbit were consistent with blunt force trauma. On May 24, 2019, Detective Smith requested a warrant for the arrest of Leland Panky. In January of 2020, prosecutors reached a plea deal with Leland. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of CA resulting in death and tampering with a deceased human and was sentenced to 72 years in prison. As a result of her plea deal, Elisha Panky was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
Explaining the decision, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann remarked, “We had to take into account the risk of going to trial on first-degree homicide charges when the exact cause of death was not determined.” Prosecutors were also wary of subjecting Kaden’s loved ones to a trial that would revisit details that officials ascribed as “one of the most horrific cases they’d ever seen.” Leland Panky’s crimes, they said, were “intentional, deliberate, calculated, callous, self-serving, and deprived of any sense of humanity or human kindness.”
During sentencing, Elisha’s sister, Sarah Cruz, fondly remembered her nephew. She said, “I was in the room when Kaden was born. I saw his sweet little face and was immediately smitten. As Kaden grew, it became apparent that he had a very old soul. He was a sweet child and gentle and our entire family fell in love with him.” Ms. Cruz is now the guardian of Kaden’s younger sister, who she describes as “a miracle and a survivor.”
In the wake of Kaden’s death, his former teacher Christina Hafler started a GoFundMe page to set up a memorial. As of September 2019, the memorial was completed. A 121-foot mural in Denver features a tree and a bumblebee because Kaden enjoyed nature. A bright orange bench outside of the school’s entrance was also dedicated to Kaden. Brooke Webb didn’t know Kaden, but her daughter went to school with him. She said, “It was devastating for the teachers and the parents and the whole community because if anyone had known that he was facing that kind of torture and abuse, we would have wanted to step in and do something.”
Webb still wanted to do something for a little boy who seemed to be forgotten. She said, “I wanted the bench and the tree and for the kids that remember Kaden and knew Kaden, that they can have peace while they’re here at school.” His classmates even gave their input on the mural. One teacher remarked, “It is incredibly joyful. I think about the specific things in it that were very special to Kaden and then I see lots of colors representing so much joy and diversity in our own school. It really feels very student-centered.”
Another teacher at Ellis said, “I hope that when people see the mural and see the bench, they’ll remember obviously remember Kaden and the amazing kid that he was and also think about the care and the joy that we have at our school.” Brooke Webb reached out to legislators in hope of changing laws. She believes there’s a way to put in place a policy for older kids similar to Safe Haven laws for babies. She also runs the Facebook group “Justice for Kaden McWilliams.”
If you suspect that a child is being mistreated, please contact the Childhelp National CA Hotline. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages. You could be the person to save a child just like Kaden McWilliams.
