The Worst Parents in Ohio’s History
This is one of the worst cases I’ve ever heard. It is up there with some of the most depraved and barbaric things I’ve ever heard done to a young person. Over a hundred of you have requested this case, over a hundred, so get ready cause this one’s bad. On December 13, 2019, 9-1-1 dispatchers received a disturbing phone call from a Dayton, Ohio father named Al-Mudahan McLain regarding his son who was allegedly unresponsive. Rather than focusing on his son’s condition, McLain spent most of the call lamenting that Dakota was allegedly disobedient and how difficult it was to be a parent. At one point during the call, when McLain was instructed to initiate CPR, he could be heard audibly wretching and then complained, “It smells real rotten inside of his stomach.”
Upon arrival at McLain’s 1934 Kensington Drive home in Dayton, Ohio, paramedics found him waiting at the door and his son, ten-year-old Dakota Collins, battered and bruised from head to toe, lying alone and unresponsive on the living room floor. Dayton police officer Evans also responded. As paramedics tended to Dakota, to allow the medics to work without distraction, Officer Evans engaged McLain in conversation on the porch, during which McLain continued to rant and rave about his uncivilized and uncontrollable son. Although paramedics focused on attempts to resuscitate Dakota, the evidence of neglect and harm done to him were clearly present all over his body. When the paramedics indicated that Dakota had passed away and that there was nothing more that could be done to save him, McLain’s response to the news of the death of his own son was, “Alright, I tried to get you guys here as fast as I could.”
Dakota was transported to the hospital for further examination. Upon arrival, Dr. Leicher, an expert in pediatrics specializing in child abuse, had an opportunity to externally examine his battered remains. Dr. Leicher noted hundreds of lacerations, abrasions, and bruises to Dakota’s head, scalp, face, and mouth, including the inside of it, his neck, his chest, his abdomen, arms, hands, legs, and feet—basically everywhere on his body. Patterned abrasions were noted on his chest as well as his abdomen and legs. Older scars were seen on his torso and extremities. Injuries, lacerations, and bruising were also visible externally in his private areas.
According to Dr. Leicher, the extent and nature of the injuries were not consistent with accident or self-infliction; they were the result of severe physical harm on numerous occasions over a sustained period of time. Many of the injuries were in areas that are very difficult to bruise. Dr. Leicher noted that many of the injuries were located in areas often considered to be defensive locations, as they are the areas of the body, such as the back of the arms and posterior of the body, that are exposed when one tries to protect themselves from strikes. She also noticed evidence of prior rib fractures that were not visible in Dakota’s medical records. Dr. Leicher also noted pruning on Dakota’s hands, like one would note if they’ve been in water for too long.
As disturbing as the external presentation of Dakota’s injuries were, it was the internal examination performed by Deputy Coroner Dr. Brian Casto that told the true depth and extent of the harm inflicted on Dakota. The autopsy confirmed extensive injuries, abrasions, and contusions to the head, torso, and extremities. Evidence of fresh injuries as well as old injuries were both present on Dakota. With respect to Dakota’s head, Dr. Casto found even more injuries as the bruising was hidden in his hair. External autopsy photos show bruising around Dakota’s right forehead, right chin, inside the upper and lower lip, and in the left nasal opening.
When Dakota’s scalp was peeled back, deep bruising was observed in all areas of the head. External contusions and petechiae, which are pin-sized red spots due to bleeding, were noted on Dakota’s chest. An internal examination revealed internal bruising to his stomach. Dakota’s backside also showed severe external and internal injuries. There was severe pulmonary edema, which is fluid in the lungs, and they concluded that it was related to prolonged submersion in water. Dr. Casto also observed fractures of numerous ribs. Dakota’s digestive system was also examined, and what was found was shocking: his stomach had contents that were a tan-yellow puree type consistency, which appeared identical in color and consistency to that of human waste.
The entirety of his backside, all the way to the bone, was bruised and swollen, with a significant injury to his private areas observed as two half-inch lacerations. Internal examination showed the depth and damage of this injury. The internal examination of Dakota’s pelvic area revealed an abundance of blood associated with the injury. The most significant injury as it related to Dakota’s death was not even visible externally: it was severe bruising to the back of the neck. Internal examination of this area revealed deep bruising through all the layers of neck muscle directly over the spine. Dr. Casto described this bruising as the type of injury typically only observed in catastrophic events such as severe car accidents.
Dr. Casto ruled the cause of death for ten-year-old Dakota Collins as blunt force trauma combined with compressive asphyxia and water submersion, with the manner of death listed as homicide. While Dakota was examined, law enforcement remained at the Kensington address with his father. Shortly after Dakota’s remains were transported, McLain’s partner, Amanda Hines, and her sister, Jennifer Ebert, returned to the residence with a three-year-old who was later determined to be McLain’s brother. Although McLain initially maintained that just he and Dakota lived at the Kensington residence, it was later confirmed that he, Hines, Ebert, Dakota, and the three-year-old all lived there.
The ground floor was furnished, there was running water and food in the refrigerator. There appeared to be a security system as the TV in the living room showed live video of the outside. Family photos and photos of pets were hung on the walls throughout the home; however, there were absolutely no photos of Dakota. There was a bedroom that belonged to McLain and Hines, along with a mudroom that had been converted into a spare bedroom for Ebert. There was also a bedroom consistent with the needs of a three-year-old with age-appropriate toys and clothing, but there was no room set up for Dakota—no age-appropriate toys, school books, or clothing for a 10-year-old. Nor was there a bedroom for Dakota set up in the basement, only a room for the dogs with crates and a dirty cement floor littered with excrement.
In the living room, there was a door that led to the attic, an area that authorities soon learned to be where Dakota was being kept. As the detectives went up the stairs, they noticed an overwhelming smell of human waste. Due to there not being a light source in the attic, they had to use flashlights to further investigate. The attic was devoid of any personal effects aside from a broken chair. Two legs from the broken chair were recovered downstairs, one stuck behind the television and the other in a laundry basket outside the bathroom. There were no clothes, no books, no toys—only filth, excrement, and insects. Deep inside of the attic was another room secured with a lock.
When the room was unlocked, detectives found a bloody tarp and a filthy lawn chair, which they discovered was Dakota’s bedding when he was permitted to have it. Detectives also found a dismantled video camera that had been used by the three adults to watch Dakota, which, per Hines, had been disconnected by McLain after Dakota became unresponsive but before he called 9-1-1. Dakota originally did have a bedroom in the home; however, he lost the room after McLain and Hines took custody of McLain’s three-year-old brother, and Dakota was sent to the attic.
The school tried their very best to help with Dakota, providing him with donated clothing to wear during the day while they washed his soiled ones. Teachers sent Dakota to the school nurse who would assist him with these issues. When notified of what was going on, McLain refused assistance and was enraged with staff interventions, further demanding that the school nurse not see Dakota for any reason at all. Ebert noted that McLain would give Dakota weird haircuts, knowing that would cause him ridicule. Hines noted, and teachers confirmed, that McLain wanted daily updates from teachers. Hines would get those reports and then relay them to McLain. If they were anything but glowing, unbeknownst to his teachers, it would result in severe discipline for Dakota.
Based on the account of Hines, Dakota was ordered to stand in the living room and hold a loaded book bag most days of the week from the time he got home from school until it was bedtime. This was Dakota’s life. On weekends, if Dakota did not have a good report card, he would be made to stand in this position in the living room for the entire day. McLain was furious with Horace Mann Elementary and blamed the school for repeatedly sending CPS to his house. However, when CPS did come, the family was prepared. McLain and Hines instructed Ebert and Dakota on how to act when the door was knocked on, which was to stay behind a locked door and not be heard.
McLain had Dakota prepared to answer their questions. He was to tell them nothing and act perfectly happy. CPS had a host of resources to offer the family, including connecting them to medical or psychological services; however, McLain declined their assistance. He blamed the school and Dakota for their intrusions and would take his rage out on Dakota after every time they came, beating him, throwing him, kicking him, and body slamming him. Any marks left behind would be covered by long sleeves and pants.
Fed up with the repeated interference, in May of 2018, McLain and Hines withdrew Dakota from school, the one place where Dakota found at least a momentary refuge during the day. In order to keep the school out of their business, McLain and Hines wrote falsified educational plans claiming that Hines, who represented herself as his stepmother, would be homeschooling Dakota. By then, Dakota was largely confined to the attic for the majority of every single day. Originally, Dakota had full reign of the entire attic; however, in November of 2018, he allegedly launched himself through a window, leaving McLain and Hines no other option but to take him to the hospital.
During that visit, psychological counseling was recommended as part of an aftercare plan; however, the family did not follow through with making appointments. When social workers called McLain and Hines to assist in setting up that appointment, that help was declined too. During this time, McLain did call the juvenile court to inquire about services for juveniles under the age of 10. The court does in fact have a program to offer services to families struggling with mental health or behavioral issues; however, when McLain learned it was therapeutic help and would not result in Dakota being locked up, he declined that assistance too.
After his visit to the hospital, Dakota was moved to the basement while McLain walled off the windows in the attic. When Dakota returned to his attic confinement, it was now a smaller area deprived of external light. Afterwards, McLain and Hines made sure Dakota was locked up in the attic to avoid his escape. In the attic, Dakota was deprived of clothing, and by the time of his death, Ebert confirmed that all of his clothes had been thrown out. Yet despite this, if Dakota came down to use the restroom without his clothes, he would be subject to discipline. His father only allowed Dakota to use the restroom at night and would refer to him by using slurs and girls’ names.
Once confined to the attic, Dakota spent all day every day in painful poses created by McLain. All three adults watched him from the comfort of their living room television where they had installed a camera to monitor him. If Dakota moved out of these horrific poses, Ebert or Hines would advise McLain of the movement so he could beat Dakota for disregarding the rules. An iPad recovered from the home had images of Dakota in these excruciating positions. He was made to stand with no clothes on in the dark attic, bent over so that his hands were touching the floor. He was to hold this pose from when he woke till the early hours of the morning.
As McLain spoke to 9-1-1 dispatchers, as well as Officer Evans and detectives, he repeated a theme about how Dakota would not stop eating his own waste. However, McLain failed to mention that it was he that physically made Dakota perform this dehumanizing act. Per Ebert and later confirmed by Hines, it started as a disciplinary action. McLain became enraged that Dakota, who was confined to the attic without access to a bathroom, had no choice but to use the floor. McLain commanded Dakota to eat his own waste, and when Dakota refused, McLain physically made him do so.
The last hours of Dakota’s life were detailed by Hines and Ebert. McLain had been out drinking and when he came home, he took his anger out on Dakota. Ebert from another room heard Dakota crying and saying, “No more.” Hines dozed off on the couch and woke to McLain punching Dakota hard in his stomach. The next morning, Dakota was walking but he was holding on to the walls. He would wobble and fall and then stand back up. McLain’s response was to elbow Dakota hard in the back and order him back upstairs. Once back upstairs, McLain gave instructions to perform his disciplined pose. Because Dakota did not move fast enough, McLain decided to take things further.
As Dakota laid down on his stomach, McLain stood on his back, forcing all of his weight—even reaching to the ceiling to push down extra hard on Dakota’s body, crushing him. This is a man that’s over 200 pounds. After this, McLain again had Dakota stand in the same pose and went downstairs to watch TV. McLain then took a bottle of hot sauce up to pour on Dakota’s backside. McLain readily admitted that pouring hot sauce on Dakota’s private areas was something that he did frequently. According to Ebert, he had called it, “One of his parenting tools.”
Still not satisfied, McLain grabbed him by the ears and dragged him down the steps. He took Dakota into the bathroom and told him to clean his shorts. When Dakota again did not move fast enough, he was told, “Move faster or you are going to drown.” Ebert from the living room then heard splashing and Dakota gasping for air. McLain took Dakota back upstairs, and from the monitor, Ebert could see him laying on the lawn chair in the fetal position. When McLain came back downstairs, he tossed a chair leg that he apparently used on Dakota behind the dresser.
McLain admitted during his interviews that the chair leg had damaged Dakota’s insides, but he denied that he was the one that shoved it in there. He tried to explain the injury was self-inflicted by telling detectives that he saw Dakota stick it inside himself. McLain later told detectives, “That’s the kind of stuff he was into,” before quickly assuring detectives without them asking any questions that McLain himself was very straight. Finally, McLain changed the story to Dakota fighting to keep the chair leg inside of him and that he had to wrestle him to get it out.
After McLain came back downstairs and discarded the chair leg, Dakota never made another sound. All adults in the home were arrested and charged. On December 14th, while in the police cruiser, McLain asked the officer, “You can get the death penalty though, right?” to which the officer responded, “That’s up to the prosecutors, that’s not up to us.” Al-Mudahan McLain pled guilty and was sentenced to 51 years to life in prison. Amanda Hines was sentenced to 22 to 27 and a half years, and Jennifer Ebert was sentenced to eight years in prison for her role.
One might be asking, where was Dakota’s mother? In 2008, his biological mother, Robin Collins, lost custody of him after harming him when he was still a baby. Dakota was eventually awarded to his father McLain with full custody in 2013. In 2014, McLain got permission to lead the state for Pennsylvania; instead of doing so, he went to Dayton and purchased a house, and Dakota’s mother and grandmother were unable to track him down. McLain already had a criminal history, including charges for beating Hines with a metal pole, but those charges were dismissed when Hines decided not to cooperate.
I want to say thank you to everybody that has been there for us, that has been supporting us. If Dakota even had an idea just how many people out there were rooting for him, he would have loved you all. Until next week, we love you. We love you. Bye bye. “I don’t know if hers is still there or Kited.” “I don’t know if hers is still there, Kitan.” “You might need to just pick him up for a second and why do you insist on doing this constantly?” “It’s either this or stand on my desk.” “Can’t even see you on the camera, just blended, okay come here model for the camera.” “Oh some water here, you can plant it if you wanna, okay.
