Cellmate: Graham killed girl to end her 'suffering'

Cellmate: Graham killed girl to end her 'suffering'

By SCOTT HIAASEN

Miami Herald

MIAMI - Hours after she was charged last year with kidnapping and
abusing 4-year-old Rilya Wilson, Geralyn Graham whispered to a
comforting cellmate that she smothered Rilya with a pillow to end the
girl's "suffering" spawned by the abuse and neglect of others, the
confidante later told police.

"I killed it," Graham said, according to robbery
suspect-turned-state's witness Robin Lunceford.

Lunceford also told detectives that Graham - who uses a walker and
suffers from various health problems - admitted burying Rilya's body
near a pond where Rilya used to play with Graham and her former lover,
Pamela Graham, Rilya's legal guardian.

Graham picked the spot "because the water represents peace and she
gave the baby a proper burial," Lunceford said.

Investigators have not found Rilya's body. Nevertheless, they charged
Graham with the missing foster child's murder based largely on
Lunceford's August 2004 police statement.

A transcript of Lunceford's interview with Miami-Dade homicide
detective Sara Times was among several police records obtained by The
Miami Herald this week.

Prosecutors believe the 59-year-old caregiver killed Rilya sometime in
December 2000 - 16 months before the Department of Children and
Families realized the child was missing. Rilya's disappearance, and
DCF's ignorance of it, became a national scandal that toppled agency's
chief.

Prosecutors have said Lunceford repeated specifics that were not
publicly known and were corroborated by other witnesses.

But Graham's lawyer, Brian Tannebaum, blasted the Miami-Dade State
Attorney's Office for relying so heavily on Lunceford, a career
criminal with 15 robbery convictions, 13 aliases and a penchant for
prison escapes.

"I can't imagine Geralyn having this kind of conversation with
anyone," Tannebaum said of Lunceford's statement. "Ninety-nine percent
of everything Robin Lunceford said is in the public view" from prior
press coverage of Rilya's disappearance.

Lunceford told police that she began "flirting" with Graham last May.
At the time, Graham was serving time for fraud, while Lunceford was
awaiting trial on robbery charges.

On the morning of Aug. 18, police charged Graham with abusing and
kidnapping Rilya. Detective Times delivered the arrest papers and,
invoking the Bible, encouraged Graham to "unburden herself" and tell
her what happened to Rilya.

Graham didn't cooperate with the detective, but she did break down in
tears when she returned to a courthouse holding cell, Lunceford told
police later. She said she wrapped her arm around Graham, who then
offered this explanation for Rilya's disappearance:

Graham said she believed Rilya had been neglected and perhaps molested
at another foster home before she came to live with Graham and Pamela
Graham, who are not related. Graham said she tried to return Rilya to
the foster family because she thought the girl was handicapped, but
the conditions at Rilya's previous home were too poor.

Graham said she thought Rilya had mental problems, but DCF ignored her
requests for help. She said the girl made inappropriate gestures and
often acted out. She said Rilya was "evil" and "had demons."

After nine months taking care of Rilya, Graham said the "last straw"
came at Halloween 2000. Graham wanted Rilya to dress up as an angel,
but the girl insisted on a Cleopatra costume - an apparent symbol of
decadence to Graham.

"Her words were that she knew, at that point, there was no help for
the baby and she knew what she had to do and that's it. That was the
end of that," Lunceford told the detective. "She said the baby was
suffering and she couldn't let it grow up to suffer like that."

Lunceford said Graham told her that she previously struck Rilya at
least three times and put the child in a dog cage - corroborating
allegations made by other witnesses.

"She tried to train the baby and she only put it in the cage sometimes
when it was bad," Lunceford said.

Graham also allegedly said she would never confess to the murder and
would continue to repeat her original story about what happened to
Rilya: that a DCF worker took the child for medical tests in 2001 and
never returned her.

After Graham's admissions, Lunceford immediately tried to contact
detective Times to report what she knew. But Lunceford insisted she
did not want or expect a plea deal on her robbery case in return for
her testimony.

"I can't stand someone who hurts a child," Lunceford said. "I have
nothing to gain from this."

Tannebaum, Graham's lawyer, scoffed at that, describing Lunceford as
the "consummate jailhouse snitch." He noted that Lunceford is also on
the witness list to testify in another high-profile child-murder case,
the retrial of Ana Maria Cardona in the 1990 "Baby Lollipops" case.

"It defies the odds," Tannebaum said.

In addition to Lunceford's statement, prosecutors also released
records detailing some of the far-fetched Rilya sightings detectives
tried to track down over the past two years.

A crack addict said she saw Rilya with two women at an Opa-locka
motel. A Fort Pierce man had a "universal vision" that Rilya was alive
at a Hare Krishna temple, while a Miramar psychic said she could see
Rilya's death.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...n/11327974.htm

"Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, For
you are crunchy and taste good with catsup."

wexwimpy wrote:
Cellmate: Graham killed girl to end her 'suffering'

By SCOTT HIAASEN

Miami Herald

MIAMI - Hours after she was charged last year with kidnapping and
abusing 4-year-old Rilya Wilson, Geralyn Graham whispered to a
comforting cellmate that she smothered Rilya with a pillow to end the
girl's "suffering" spawned by the abuse and neglect of others, the
confidante later told police.

"I killed it," Graham said, according to robbery
suspect-turned-state's witness Robin Lunceford.

Lunceford also told detectives that Graham - who uses a walker and
suffers from various health problems - admitted burying Rilya's body
near a pond where Rilya used to play with Graham and her former
lover,
Pamela Graham, Rilya's legal guardian.

Graham picked the spot "because the water represents peace and she
gave the baby a proper burial," Lunceford said.

Investigators have not found Rilya's body. Nevertheless, they charged
Graham with the missing foster child's murder based largely on
Lunceford's August 2004 police statement.

A transcript of Lunceford's interview with Miami-Dade homicide
detective Sara Times was among several police records obtained by The
Miami Herald this week.

Prosecutors believe the 59-year-old caregiver killed Rilya sometime
in
December 2000 - 16 months before the Department of Children and
Families realized the child was missing. Rilya's disappearance, and
DCF's ignorance of it, became a national scandal that toppled
agency's
chief.

Prosecutors have said Lunceford repeated specifics that were not
publicly known and were corroborated by other witnesses.

But Graham's lawyer, Brian Tannebaum, blasted the Miami-Dade State
Attorney's Office for relying so heavily on Lunceford, a career
criminal with 15 robbery convictions, 13 aliases and a penchant for
prison escapes.

"I can't imagine Geralyn having this kind of conversation with
anyone," Tannebaum said of Lunceford's statement. "Ninety-nine
percent
of everything Robin Lunceford said is in the public view" from prior
press coverage of Rilya's disappearance.

Lunceford told police that she began "flirting" with Graham last May.
At the time, Graham was serving time for fraud, while Lunceford was
awaiting trial on robbery charges.

On the morning of Aug. 18, police charged Graham with abusing and
kidnapping Rilya. Detective Times delivered the arrest papers and,
invoking the Bible, encouraged Graham to "unburden herself" and tell
her what happened to Rilya.

Graham didn't cooperate with the detective, but she did break down in
tears when she returned to a courthouse holding cell, Lunceford told
police later. She said she wrapped her arm around Graham, who then
offered this explanation for Rilya's disappearance:

Graham said she believed Rilya had been neglected and perhaps
molested
at another foster home before she came to live with Graham and Pamela
Graham, who are not related. Graham said she tried to return Rilya to
the foster family because she thought the girl was handicapped, but
the conditions at Rilya's previous home were too poor.

Graham said she thought Rilya had mental problems, but DCF ignored
her
requests for help. She said the girl made inappropriate gestures and
often acted out. She said Rilya was "evil" and "had demons."

After nine months taking care of Rilya, Graham said the "last straw"
came at Halloween 2000. Graham wanted Rilya to dress up as an angel,
but the girl insisted on a Cleopatra costume - an apparent symbol of
decadence to Graham.

"Her words were that she knew, at that point, there was no help for
the baby and she knew what she had to do and that's it. That was the
end of that," Lunceford told the detective. "She said the baby was
suffering and she couldn't let it grow up to suffer like that."

Lunceford said Graham told her that she previously struck Rilya at
least three times and put the child in a dog cage - corroborating
allegations made by other witnesses.

"She tried to train the baby and she only put it in the cage
sometimes
when it was bad," Lunceford said.

Graham also allegedly said she would never confess to the murder and
would continue to repeat her original story about what happened to
Rilya: that a DCF worker took the child for medical tests in 2001 and
never returned her.

After Graham's admissions, Lunceford immediately tried to contact
detective Times to report what she knew. But Lunceford insisted she
did not want or expect a plea deal on her robbery case in return for
her testimony.

"I can't stand someone who hurts a child," Lunceford said. "I have
nothing to gain from this."

Tannebaum, Graham's lawyer, scoffed at that, describing Lunceford as
the "consummate jailhouse snitch." He noted that Lunceford is also on
the witness list to testify in another high-profile child-murder
case,
the retrial of Ana Maria Cardona in the 1990 "Baby Lollipops" case.

"It defies the odds," Tannebaum said.

In addition to Lunceford's statement, prosecutors also released
records detailing some of the far-fetched Rilya sightings detectives
tried to track down over the past two years.

A crack addict said she saw Rilya with two women at an Opa-locka
motel. A Fort Pierce man had a "universal vision" that Rilya was
alive
at a Hare Krishna temple, while a Miramar psychic said she could see
Rilya's death.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...n/11327974.htm

"Meddle not in the affairs of Dragons, For
you are crunchy and taste good with catsup."

Thanks for keeping us up on this as I requested, Wex.

The only thing uglier than this ongoing horror show are the two most
likely possibilities for this child....her death, or her sale.

I hope the outcome discovered or a fact is neither, but don't hold out
much hope. People need resolution with this though. The folks who loved
and love her, and those that care about children in the system. I wait
with a heavy heart for the next bulletin.

Kane