DaytonDailyNews.com

EATON — Preble County Children Services saw no danger in placing Hope Dawn Cook in the custody of an older half-sister, now charged in the 3-year-old's death, an assistant Preble County prosecutor said Thursday, Aug. 7.

"There's always a preference for kinship placement when possible," said Assistant Prosecutor Valerie Sargent-Eckert, who represents the agency.

She also called Hope's death a tragedy.

The prosecutor spoke about Hope one day after Kimberly Cook-Terrill, 22, of Trotwood, was charged with murder in the girl's July 20 death. A Montgomery County district court judge on Thursday set bond at $300,000.

Sargent-Eckert said Cook-Terrill gained custody of Hope in October 2007 after Children Services evaluated her and recommended she become Hope's guardian.

Preble County Juvenile Court Judge Wilfrid Dues approved the placement of Hope and her half-brother, Dexter, 6, with Cook-Terrill after their biological father, Michael W. Cook, 45, was imprisoned for attempted rape and gross sexual imposition.

Cook-Terrill's grandmother, Violet Cook, believes Preble County Children Services is to blame for the child's death.

"They should have been aware of Kimberly's past," Violet Cook said. "She was an abused child herself."

Violet Cook said Cook-Terrill was physically abused as a child by a close relative.

During her initial court appearance Thursday, Cook-Terrill told Montgomery County District Judge James Manning that she had been a foster child for 12 years.

Yet Violet Cook does not believe Cook-Terrill killed the child. "Kimberly would never do that," Cook said.

Contact the reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDailyNews.com.