Tanisha Nobles

ERICK NOBLES' STORY

UPDATE: Child killer Tanisha Nobles died in prison on May 14, 2018. Thank you to everyone who submitted a petition to help ensure she fulfilled her full life sentence. Justice has been served.

A Child Disappears

On December 26, 1993, two-year-old Erick Nobles had just celebrated his second Christmas. Erick stood two and a half feet tall, weighed 30 pounds, had brown eyes and close cropped black hair. He liked to play his toy keyboard, and especially liked to play “Jingle Bells” during the holiday season. Erick was extremely friendly and was learning to talk more with each day. Erick had his whole life ahead of him and no one would have expected that he would never be seen alive again.

The week after Christmas, people began to notice Erick had not been seen since December 26. Neighbors asked Erick’s mother where Erick was and she told them he was staying with his grandmother, who often watched him. However, Erick’s grandmother did not have him. She was supposed to pick him up for a New Year’s weekend visit, but Tanisha told her Erick was with a babysitter. Erick’s grandmother told her daughter she would be over the weekend of January 7 to pick up her grandson.

The Search Begins

On the afternoon of January 7, 1994, Tanisha Nobles folded Erick’s winter coat over her arm and boarded a bus to go to Salem Mall. One of her friends got on the bus with her and asked about Erick. Nobles said Erick was with his grandmother. According to the friend, Nobles would not make eye contact, kept looking at the ceiling and appeared to be nervous. The bus driver also recognized Nobles and asked where the “little man” was that day. She told him Erick was with the baby sitter and she was going to pick him up before going to the mall. Nobles got off the bus and then boarded a second bus that would take her to the mall.

When Nobles arrived at the mall, she went into a McDonald’s that was adjacent to the corridor leading to the restrooms. She told the assistant manager that her baby was missing from the men’s restroom. When the assistant manager asked Nobles if she would like her to assist in looking for Erick, Noble’s refused the woman’s help. The assistant manager looked anyway and found no one. According to the assistant manager, Nobles’ demeanor was “not someone in a panic” and “not as if she had lost a child.”

Nobles next found mall security guard Douglas Bizzell. She told him Erick had disappeared from the women’s restroom. She claimed Erick was in the stall with her and snuck out under the door. She claimed she thought he was washing his hands and when she came out of the stall, he was gone. When Bizzell suggested they search a nearby toy store, Nobles refused the request, saying she had already searched there. Bizzell searched the toy store anyway. The toy store employees said they had not seen Erick or his mother at all that afternoon. Bizzell continued to search shops throughout the mall with no success. When he asked Nobles to help him search the large department stores, she refused, saying she had already searched everywhere. Bizzell stated Nobles volunteered no information and was “calm for a person whose little child has been missing.”

As mall security continued to search for Erick, local police arrived and found Tanisha Nobles at the information booth. According to the police officer who took a statement from her, she did not seem very concerned and she would not make eye contact with him.

Police searched late into the night and into the next day. Police helicopters scoured the area, local residents came out en masse to look for Erick, the FBI was brought in and the local media distributed Erick’s information. Police followed up on many leads and worked long hours to find the young boy. Throughout the investigation, Tanisha Nobles never inquired about the status of the investigation, never asked whether her son had been found and had no interest if there were any new leads. Nobles called the police one time in the several days after Erick disappeared to tell them her friend reported seeing Erick at a local hospital. Police investigated with no results.

Multiple Stories and a Chilling Confession

On January 12, 1993, five days after she reported Erick missing, Tanisha Nobles was brought in for further questioning. After agreeing to take a lie detector test, she got nervous when she saw the lie detector machine and changed her story once again. She said she had given Erick to an African American couple at a local grocery store. She told police the couple had a child that had recently died and the woman’s name was Karen Wilson and she had her phone number on a piece of paper at her apartment. Nobles told authorities she had given Erick away because she “was under a lot of stress.” She claimed she was feeling “like [she] had no kind of freedom, he was always getting into stuff and [she] was always yelling at him.” She stated she “didn’t want to get to the point that [she] would hit him or anything like that.” Police called the Montgomery County Coroner’s office and they stated no child of anyone named Karen Wilson that had died in the past few months. They also went to Nobles’ apartment with her, and a paper with Karen Wilson’s information on it could not be found.

As the questioning continued, Nobles’ story changed again. She claimed Erick had accidentally drowned in the bathtub when she left him unattended. She claimed she went downstairs to answer the phone and Erick turned on the water. She said she went back upstairs and turned the water off. She said the phone rang again and Erick turned the water on a second time. She claimed she went downstairs to answer the second call and then laid out Erick’s pajamas. Nobles told police, “Then I went downstairs, getting stuff ready for dinner and everything. Then I went back upstairs and water was still running and Erick was just lying in it. I was like ‘Erick, Erick’ and I was shaking him … I picked him up and laid him on his bed … I just let him stay there for a while. I got him dressed. I didn’t know what to do so I went downstairs and I got some plastic bags and I put him in one. It was a green one … I tied it with a rubber band … I just left him. I put him in his closet, ’cause I didn’t know what to do. He just stayed there for a couple of days, and when it got dark, I called a friend to take me over to Huber Heights. I thought I was going over to my mama’s house.”

Police questioned Nobles about the friend who gave her a ride, but she kept switching between a male and female driver. She finally settled on a neighbor. Police took Nobles back to her apartment where they began to talk to the neighbor. At that point, Nobles lost her composure and finally admitted the horrific truth. She was giving Erick a bath the day after Christmas. While bathing him she pushed his head under the water and held it there until Erick’s legs stopped kicking. She dressed him and put him in a plastic bag and then put Erick’s body inside his bedroom closet. A few days later, she threw Erick’s body in a dumpster near her apartment. Police searched the local landfill, however they were unable to find any remains and Erick’s body was never found.

A Convicted Mother Gets Life

On January 20, 1993, Tanisha Nobles was indicted on one count of murder for killing her son, Erick. The grand jury also indicted her on one count of abusing a corpse and one count of inducing panic. She pled not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges.

While in jail awaiting trial, Nobles changed her story once again. In a letter sent to Judge Barbara Gorman, Nobles claimed she drowned her son and that two people broke into her home and made her do it. She also reportedly sent a letter to a friend claiming that people to whom she owed money forced her to fill up the bathtub, put Erick inside and leave her apartment. She claimed when she returned that Erick was dead. Police found absolutely no evidence to support this claim.

Nobles’ defense attorney made every attempt to prolong the trial and limit exposure. She requested a gag order banning Tanisha Nobles and attorneys in the case from speaking, requested a change of venue, tried to remove the judge from the case, and unsuccessfully attempted to have Nobles’ confession thrown out. The defense also made an unsuccessful attempt to have the charges dropped because Erick’s body was never found.

After many delays on February 8, 1994, a jury of nine women and three men began hearing the case. Prior to the trial, Nobles pled no contest to the charge of inducing panic and received a six month sentence.

Prosecutors called multiple witnesses from the mall and local police department. All claimed Nobles showed little to no emotion after reporting her child missing. They also introduced Nobles’ confession and detailed her long list of lies. The defense conceded Erick was dead and had several members of Nobles’ family testify on her behalf. Nobles’ mother testified she saw her daughter and grandson at least once a month.

When describing Tanisha’s relationship with Erick Nobles, her mother stated, “She loved him.” Montgomery County Assistant Prosecutor David Franceshelli then asked her, “Would a loving mother take that bag with the poor child’s body and put it in a dumpster?”

Tanisha Nobles’ mother paused for a second and responded, “No.”

It took the jury four hours to convict Nobles of murder and abuse of a corpse. The jury opted not to convict Nobles on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, which would have meant they believed Nobles did not mean to kill Erick.

Common Pleas Judge Barbara Gorman sentenced Nobles to 15 years to life for the murder, six months for the abuse of a corpse and six months for inducing panic. Nobles would unsuccessfully appeal her conviction a year later.

A Risk to the Community

While Nobles has managed to do fairly well in prison, she had issues at both of her parole consideration hearings. In 2010, The Ohio Parole Board wrote, “Due to the death of a very vulnerable child at the hands of the offender, her poor conduct and her lack of offense related programs, she is not suitable for release.” In 2012, the parole records state, “Inmate Nobles lacks remorse and empathy for the child victim.”

The records from both hearings cited the following reasons for parole denial:

“There is substantial reason to believe that due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of the inmate into society would create undue risk to public safety, or due to the serious nature of the crime, the release of the inmate would not further the interest of justice or be consistent with the welfare and security of society.”

“There is substantial reason to believe that due to the serious infractions of the Administrative Code, the release of the inmate would not act as a deterrent to the inmate or to other institutionalized inmates from violating institution rules.”

In 2012, the parole board added the following reason:

“There is substantial reason to believe the inmate will engage in further criminal conduct, or that the inmate will not conform to conditions of release”

No Parole

Tanisha Nobles is a cold-blooded child killer who drowned her own two-year-old son Erick because he “got on her nerves” and she wanted her freedom. She then put him in a garbage bag and threw him in a dumpster. Nobles proceeded to lie multiple times about Erick’s whereabouts, wasting valuable community resources and time. Although Nobles has spent 23 years in prison, she still “lacks remorse and empathy” for Erick. The Ohio Parole Board’s records clearly state that releasing Nobles “would not further the interest of justice or be consistent with the welfare and security of society.”

Releasing Tanisha Nobles at and point would be a complete injustice to Erick Nobles and would demean her cruelty to him. Based on the fact Erick Nobles is not alive as a direct results of her horrific actions, we believe Tanisha Nobles should be required to serve her FULL life sentence. We urge the Ohio Parole Board to deny Tanisha Nobles parole at all future hearings until she dies in prison.