Proving Foster Child's Murder A Challenge

Rilya Wilson Vanished 6 Years Ago; Prosecutors Struggle To Build Murder Case Without A Body

(AP)  It's now been more than six years since foster child Rilya Wilson went missing, a disappearance that led to a shakeup at Florida's child welfare agency and murder charges against the little girl's former caretaker.

Yet Rilya's body has never been found and there's little physical evidence against the woman accused of abusing and killing her, 61-year-old Geralyn Graham.

Faced with no firm evidence that a slaying occurred and no witness who can definitively identify Graham as the girl's killer, prosecutors have been assembling a largely circumstantial case, according to case records reviewed by The Associated Press.

Police dug up Graham's backyard looking for clues. They treated rooms in her house with a substance that reveals hidden traces of blood. They searched the house from top to bottom more than once.

"I found absolutely nothing," Miami-Dade County homicide detective Sara Times said in a court deposition.

Despite the murder charges, Rilya is still listed officially as missing by the state Department of Children & Families. If she lived, she would have turned 11 on Sept. 29.

Graham, who maintains her innocence, remains held on $250,000 bond after completing a sentence on an unrelated motor vehicle fraud conviction. Her attorney, Michael Matters, said he expects prosecutors to seek the death penalty in Rilya's death.

Rilya - whose name stands for Remember I Love You Always - was living as a foster child with Graham and her companion, Pamela Graham, when she disappeared in late 2000 at the age of 4.

It wasn't until April 2002 that state officials discovered she was not at the Graham residence, which ultimately led to the resignation of the Florida Department of Children and Families' chief and to passage of a new law requiring improved supervision of foster children and tracking of efforts to find missing kids.

Pamela Graham, who is cooperating in the murder investigation, said Geralyn Graham told her one day in December 2000 that Rilya was "gone. You cannot see her anymore."

Pamela Graham insisted that she doesn't know what happened to Rilya. "You think I know more than I know, but I do not know where Rilya is," she told police, according to court documents.

Pamela Graham supported allegations of abuse by Geralyn Graham, including claims that Graham tied Rilya to a bed and locked her in a small laundry room for lengthy periods as punishment for misbehavior. Other friends and acquaintances reported similar incidents, as well as unusually numerous bruises, scratches and other injuries suffered by the girl.

One friend, Detra Coakley, said she gave Geralyn Graham a dog cage with the understanding that Rilya would be kept inside it, though she's not sure if it ever happened.

Fellow inmates at the Miami-Dade County jail have told investigators that Geralyn Graham confessed to smothering Rilya and somehow disposing of her body. One of those informants, career criminal Robin Lunceford, has refused to testify or cooperate since she was sentenced to life in prison on a robbery charge.

Geralyn Graham has a long history of fraud and other crimes. Police discovered when she was arrested that she has used 47 aliases and was carrying 10 drivers licenses from Florida and Indiana.

She says she is no killer.

"I realize that I am charged with the most heinous of crimes," she wrote in a May letter to the judge presiding over her case. "I also know it's all hearsay and I've never hurt a soul in my life. I've been guilty until proven innocent and that's not the American way."

Miami-Dade prosecutors said they are ready to take the case to trial even without more physical evidence or the discovery of Rilya's body.

"We would not proceed in this case unless we thought we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt," said Ed Griffith, spokesman for Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. "We have more than enough to go forward."

Matters said he is still poring over some three-dozen boxes of evidence and has many witness depositions to take, including those of child welfare officials. He said investigators kept both Grahams under constant surveillance and even regularly dug through their household garbage looking for clues.

"There's no issue about whether it will go to trial. I would really hope for the opportunity to try this case sometime towards the end of next year," Matters said. "You don't want to speed through something and get a bad result."

[michellem99-2009]

Having been a foster child myself,I hated that life. The thing is the nanny govt failed here. I was so bloody pissed that I was robbed of family.. Just because of Mum''s/stepdad''s hated. Their selfcentredness. He did not want anything to do with her ex-husband''s kids. I loved Dad. They put us on the state. I have felt that the parents have the kids they raise them not foster parents which are not parents at all but use them for the moeny. Yes I had foster parents who hated raising other people''s children when was/is the parents. They let me know it daily.

[yoopermom]

I think most if not all states need a major overhaul of thier Child Welfare System. From what I understand this is such a high stress job field that most people don''t stay in it too long. They see too much and it is more than most people can take. Those that do stick it out become hardend and just don''t give a d@mn.

[abusedparent]

Florida''s child protection system is a massive joke to say the least. I have seen it in action and can personally attest to it''s severe inadequacies. Even the judge assigned to the case was a joke. Fleming is prejudiced against any form of punishment that does not harm a child if it''s corporal in any way.

[michellem99-2009]

gramma and my Maine friend crzmeat Amen my mother is full of hate.. I tell it like it is. As rule families should not be broken up. Mother said if she could not have us than nobody in the family would as she saw to it we were placed on the state. She hates Dad and me as my face is reminder of of Dad. She is 70 and still hates. Dad is 72 with health issues and his new wift is good to him. All these years she is still hateful,

[grammawhamma]

LOL...twice this week...OMG what is this world coming too!!?? Have a nice night.

[Krazcarl]

Granma...I agree I have seen that done and could tell some chilling stories about the results. We have to be carefull we agreed twice this week...

[grammawhamma]

Child protective services....they may be over worked because people abuse their services. I know of people who call CPS with unwarrented complaints just to get revenge on someone. I would not want their job.

However, some of CPS seem to have a poor set of priorities. A friend of mine (who lived on a farm) was trying to get custody of her little niece...they told her the two year old couldn''t live on the farm because there were electric fences keeping the cattle in the pastures!! That is...(pardon the pun) bull c*rap. So all farm kids should be removed from their parents because they might touch an electric fence? Get real...CPS needs to look at if the child is healthy and happy...if they are, leave them where they are loved.

[cherryfries]

I remember when this first happened and I was astonished that Child Protective Services let this child slip through the cracks. I understand being overloaded with work but if a child is in foster care, don''t you have to check up and see how the child is? And why was this woman given this little girl as a foster child with her background as such?

[michellem99-2009]

crzmeat, I love my Dad and he is a good man. Phil Jr works at the mill in yer town. I use to cry myself to sleep cause of the abuse. My room mate has heard me cry in my sleep even today. I was not aware of it till he told me.I never understood why they take kids in just to abuse them as it never made sence to me. That is the last thing them bloody foster parents should do. I was force to address them Mum/Dad which I felt was wrong. I wish the abuse was not there or happen but it does. God knows it does. So yes these kids have behaviour issues cause of that abuse. I got the feeling Debby was so scared as I was. I shut down just to try to block the abuse. I figger since I have computer I will try to open the eyes of the sighted in this as I know.

[Krazcarl]

MichelleM99....No they had many children 6-7 at least and those names ring a bell but that was many years ago.

[michellem99-2009]

The whole foster home programme needs to be over hauled nation wide. I broke down in tears at one piont trying to write yer today. They make me sick. Maybe that child ran away cause the abuse. Hell them foster parentst earnt that place.

[michellem99-2009]

crzmeat I never met them but heard my sister and brother were their only foster children as I had got one letter from Debby when she was there. Debby is messed up. I can''t ever blame us who was children in foster homes. It was never talked about.I talk about it cause it cause it need to be brought to light, My Dad who you know taught me to never lie.

[kevzgrl]

We just had a case tried here in Ohio with a couple who adopted 11 kids w/varying behavioral problems, they kept them locked in cages they built out of chicken wire and wood, and then painted so they would look cheerful - like it was a really neat-o place to be locked up in every night at bedtime. They made one boy sleep in the bathtub for nearly 3 months, as punishment for wetting the bed one night. Those kids were pitiful to see and listen to at the trial - no child should have to go thru what those kids did. Thankfully, the "parents" were found guilty, and the social worker who aided and abetted them in the cages and adopting more than anyone could handle was also found guilty of negligence and breach of her duty. Some of the foster care system in Ohio has been a joke until recently - too many cases of abuse, disfigurment, death, and kids just wishing they could die..... I don''t know what would possess someone to do this to a helpless child who looks to them for care and nurture, but I DO know that there is a special circle in H-E-L-L reserved just for them.

[Krazcarl]

yoopermom....Your VERY cool my younger brother was a state child before my parents adopted him and were are the tightest sibling out of 7 children these are great kids from sketchy bakgrounds. Glad you stepped up to the plate. I KNOW he is.

[Krazcarl]

MichelleM99. Yes I grew up just down the road from the Locke place and was curious they had a lot of state children. I know exactly where and what your talking about. This is wierd.

[yoopermom]

Michelle,
My heart goes out to you for what you have been through. I completely agree that some foster parents are only in it for the money and the more kids they take in, the more money they get. Starts looking more like a kennel than a foster home. The agencies that license these families are also at fault for not screening these families better.

My adopted son lived with us for almost a year when he was five. He was then placed with his grandparents because of course they don%u2019t want to break up the family. They were in their late sixty%u2019s and they were already caring for a child with special needs. My son went to live with them and Grandma immediately applied for Social Security benefits for him because she claimed he was mentally retarded and had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. My son stayed with them until he were denied Social Security benefits. Grandma called his Worker the same day and told her she had to come and get him now; they could no longer handle caring for him. He was then placed in another foster home, without contacting us to see if he could come back to us. He lived with his new family for a few months before we found out that he was no longer with his Grandparents.

Oh and by the way, my son is in Middle school, he is an A/B student and is taking high school level classes. He excels in many sports. There is nothing /retarded/ about this young man!

[tucano2]

Obviously the Caseworker was and is responsible for her charge''s murder. Not to believe that is indeed the case would be to say O.J.''s "civil trial" was a farce and ought not have any standing. As it happens, most Americans do think his "civil trial" was a farce and should
not have any standing.

[michellem99-2009]

They never boned with us. They would not, money.

[michellem99-2009]

Lass/lad I was in foster homes and I know what goes on in them. The foster parents DO abuse the children.The children are used to get care takers that bloody state aid. I was told to keep quiet of the abuse so that the care takers still get that money. My late aunt asked me before she died *What happened, Barbara Ann you were so SWEET and did as you were told*.I said the foster homes to her, which was true. I have seen brats in the stores, Their care takers allow that behaviour. I have seen little girls throw themselves on the floor. Their parents allow it. They give in. The social workers don''t know that goes on in them homes. If they had most of them be shut down. Believe what you want, but I lived in them.

[funkiwiteboy]

some people treat their kids
as bad as they treat their dogs...