- Text
Rilya Wilson Case: 55-year sentence in disappearance of Fla. foster child 12 years ago
Rilya Wilson
/ WTEVMIAMI (AP) - A South Florida woman who once cared for missing 4-year-old foster child Rilya Wilson has been sentenced to 55 years in prison for kidnapping and child abuse convictions.
Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez imposed the sentence Tuesday on 67-year-old Geralyn Graham. Jurors could not agree last month on her guilt or innocence on a murder charge, and prosecutors will not retry Graham on that count.
Graham's sentencing closes a case that spanned more than a decade since Rilya went missing in December 2000. Her disappearance wasn't discovered for 15 months, leading to reform laws and a high-level shakeup within Florida's child welfare agency.
The prosecution was complicated because Rilya's body was never found and there were no witnesses. Graham consistently denied harming the girl.
- Fla. girl, 18, charged over underage same-sex relationship
- Jodi Arias Lawyer: Defense won't call more witnesses
- Report: Dogs removed from kidnap suspect Castro's home
- Cops: Hosftra student was killed by officer's gunshot
- 3 teens charged with raping girl, 12, putting video on web
- Report: Boyfriend charged in murder of Conn. college coed
- Police: Ex-cop once hailed as hero charged with rape
- Meeting Jodi Arias: First impressions never lie, or do they?
- Arias returns to court for penalty phase of trial
- Sources: Husband ordered cyanide before wife's death
- Cops: NYC man dead after "anti-gay" hate shooting
- Jodi Arias: A timeline of a sensational murder case
- Ariel Castro's lawyer says he'll plead not guilty
- Colorado mob attacks man thought to be sexual predator
- Authorities search for missing URI student
- Creighton Univ. professor, wife, found slain in Omaha home
