Sex Offender Kills 13-year-old Esme Kenney

On Saturday, March 7, 2009, young Esme Kenney,13, went out for a jog near her Winton Woods home but never returned. Her body was found later that evening. She had been strangled by someone who had tried to sexually assault her.
Anthony Kirkland, 40, was found that same evening near the woods and was taken in for questioning. He is now being held for allegedly killing Kenney that fateful night.
Kirkland, a repeated felon, had been living in the Pogue Rehabilitation Center, located on West McMicken Avenue, but was released on February 27th after he got into a fight with another resident. This rehabilitation center currently houses 62 sex offenders, according to WCPO.
Kirkland had previously served 16 years in prison for beating Leola Douglas and then setting her on fire-she later died from her injuries.
Along with Douglas, there have now been questions as to whether he is the one responsible for three other deaths of women who were killed in the same manner. Authorities are currently investigating this possibility.
But how can this man, who has been charged in the death of one woman and has served time in prison for numerous other violent crimes be free on the streets?
The Pogue Rehabilitation Center is located in the middle of a large city and is near many schools and neighborhoods, but yet this is where many sex offenders are housed together.
This topic raises issues as to how sexual offenders should be kept away from the unsuspecting residents.
Since the death of Esme Kenney, most of the Cincinnati City Council members are asking for Gov. Ted Strickland to close the center.
Unfortunately, most of the public probably had no idea this center even existed (I know I didn't), and so this tragic death of a child comes as such a surprise. But how is it that all of these sex offenders can be housed up together and expected to stay out trouble? Is it that there is not enough money to be able to keep these sick individuals locked up somewhere and so they have to be trusted to live in the middle of a big city with many children, where they can easily prey upon innocent victims just as Kennedy did?
This is just a terrible way to have had awareness brought to the problem of sexual predators within neighborhoods.
Esme Kenney was a young girl with a very promising future ahead of her. She was a 7th grader at the School For Creative And Performing Arts (SCPA) where she had many friends who adored her, along with her family who will miss her very much.
This poor child had her life taken away from her way too soon and the people affected by her death will never forget how this may have been prevented had Mr. Kirkland still been in prison, doing time for all the violent crimes he has committed.