MIDDLETOWN — A houseful of heartbroken relatives don't know what to do or how to feel.

Courtney Centers

        They're mourning the loss of 3-year-old Courtney Centers, whose New Year's Day death was ruled a homicide.

        And they're troubled that her 20-year-old mother is expecting her third child while facing a charge that she failed to protect her firstborn child from a Woodlawn man she dated.

        Tiana Centers and her boyfriend, Kevin Charles Miles, sobbed during their court appearances Thursday.

        Both are charged with felony child-endangering, which carries a sentence of one to five years. Mr. Miles also is charged with aggravated murder — punishable by death if he's convicted.

        Municipal Judge Mark W. Wall set Ms. Centers' bond at $1 million; he ordered Mr. Miles held without bond. The couple remain in the city jail awaiting a Jan. 11 preliminary hearing.

Miles

Centers

        None of Courtney's relatives came to court Thursday. Instead they gathered at the Middletown home of Charlene Dunn, Courtney's great-grandmother.

        “I don't even know if I could show up in court and look at him (Mr. Miles),” said Beth Campbell, 42, Courtney's great-aunt.

        When Judge Wall asked for a description of the allegation against Ms. Centers, Detective Janice Brown said, “Ms. Centers knew that Mr. Miles had been abusing her children repeatedly,” yet continued to allow him near them.

        Ms. Campbell said she thinks her niece didn't comprehend the possible consequences of her actions.

        Mr. Miles “knowingly and purposely caused the death of a 3-year-old child,” City Prosecutor Bruce Fassler said. Mr. Miles is accused of striking Courtney hard enough to cause a 2-inch gash in her liver. She died from internal bleeding, the Butler County Coroner's Office ruled.

        “I don't understand how anyone could hurt Courtney,” Ms. Campbell said. “We had a saying; we'd tell each other, "I love you to the moon and back.'”

        Courtney and her sister, Emily, 18 months, were fathered by different men, Ms. Campbell said, adding that her niece was immature and “wanted love.”

        Mr. Miles is thought to be the father of Ms. Centers' unborn child, Ms. Campbell said.

        The couple met through a telephone dating service a few months ago, Ms. Campbell said, but she knew little else about him.

        Mr. Miles, 27, was convicted in 1997 for drug trafficking, a fifth-degree felony, Hamilton County court records show.

        Ms. Centers had problems with parental responsibilities, Ms. Campbell acknowledged. Family members tried to intervene on the girls' behalf, Ms. Campbell said, but Ms. Centers refused to relinquish custody of her daughters. Authorities say they lacked enough evidence to take them away.

        “Now all we can do is try to help Emily have a good life and pick up the pieces,” Ms. Campbell said.

        Services for Courtney are 10 a.m. Saturday at Baker-Stevens Funeral Home, where friends may call from 6-8 p.m. today.

        The family requests contributions for funeral expenses be made to the Courtney Centers Memorial Fund at Fifth Third Bank.

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