Family and friends come together to honor Anastasia Hamilton 1 year after her death

AMEHURST, Ohio (WOIO) - It’s been exactly one year since the body of a young woman who had been missing was discovered in an abandoned home in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood.

On Monday Anastasia Hamilton’s family came together to remember the young woman at her gravesite in Amehurst.

The jury trial for the man charged in connection to this young woman’s death was scheduled to start on Monday, but 19 News learned his trial was continued until June 21st.

19 News spoke with Hamilton’s mother off camera. She said it was a really tough day for her and she wasn’t up to an interview, but we did speak with her last year.

“We have a lot of questions,” Melissa Romanello told 19 News in an interview in 2022. “Why would someone dump my beautiful daughter in that awful home?”

May 21st, 2022 was the last time Hamilton was seen. The 25-year-old woman was captured on a surveillance camera in the Terminal Tower parking garage walking with a man. Four days later police made a shocking discovery. Hamilton’s body was found in an abandoned home in Slavic Village.

“They said that she had bruises and lacerations and there was definitely some very suspicious activity,” Romanello said. “She was put in that place where they found her.”

Earlier this year Cleveland police arrested 34-year-old Kenneth Banville in connection to Hamilton’s death. The Cleveland man is facing a long list of charges including involuntary manslaughter, corrupting another with drugs, tampering with evidence, gross abuse of a corpse, and several drug trafficking charges.

“She had sent her friends around 1 a.m., ‘I don’t feel well, my head is pounding, I’m really hungry, and I just want to go home.’ Then no one heard from her again,” Romanello had told 19 News.

Banville has a lengthy criminal record dating back to 2009. His previous crimes include several drug possession and drug trafficking charges, identity fraud, corrupting another with drugs, and several weapons charges.

Court records show Banville has spent the past decade of his life in and out of prisons. He was even ordered to complete inpatient treatment at least twice.

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