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CNN Live Today
Police in Miami-Dade County, Florida Looking For 5-Year Old Rilya Wilson
Aired May 01, 2002 - 11:10 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Police in Miami-Dade County, Florida are looking for 5-year old Rilya Wilson today. She disappeared from state care more than a year ago. But Florida Department of Children Services did not seem to notice, until last Thursday.
Our national correspondent Susan Candiotti is in Miami this morning. She has the troubling story of a little girl lost in, or by, the system.
Susan, it doesn't appear to be clear at this point exactly what happened to Rilya.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's for sure. That's what a lot of people would like to know right now, Daryn.
Florida's historically troubled child welfare agency admits it failed and failed miserably in this matter, involving the case of a little girl who had been put in the state's care.
Her name is 5-year-old Rilya Wilson. The state put her in grandmother's care in late 1999, authorities say, because the child's mother had a drug problem. Well, in January of 2001, the grandmother claims she turned over the little girl to a social worker who showed up at her doorstep, and said the little girl need to be evaluated, and then about a week later, the same worker showed up and asked for the child's clothes.
But the grandmother said she kept calling the state about the little girl but got no answers.
Fast forward 15 months to last week and now this happens: State welfare workers called the grandmother to make an appointment to see the little girl, and that's when they discovered that they had no idea where the child was. The state of Florida was supposed to be checking in on the little girl once a month.
Clearly, it did not, and it says has no contact of any record with the child since January 2001.
The case worker who is involved was forced to resign after it appeared she had falsified documents in another case. The state admits they have a major foul-up on their hands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: Do you fear the worst has happened to her?
CHARLES AUSLANDER, DISTRICT DIRECTOR, CHILDREN & FAMILY SERVICES: Yes, I do. I fear the worst.
CANDIOTTI: And the responsibility, and whose lack does this fall?
AUSLANDER: The responsibility for the failure to keep up on a monthly basis with this child falls squarely on the Department of Children and Families, there's no question about that.
We don't know and, perhaps tragically, we'll never know, who came and picked up the child.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: And now, Daryn, we have this development, police in Kansas City, Missouri are now comparing a fingerprint of the missing Miami child to an unsolved case in Missouri, involving a little girls they called "precious doe." In early 2001, the body of a murdered unidentified little girl there, about the same age and weight of the Miami youngster are discovered. Authorities are trying to see whether they have a match.
Police in Miami are playing down the possibility, but authorities of course in both states are very anxious to solve both cases, hoping someone will come forward and say they recognize little Rilya Wilson. But it's unclear where the case is headed from here.
They hope to have word from Missouri later today if they are lucky to see whether there's match between the case there and Rilya Wilson.
KAGAN: So many questions on this case, Susan. I mean, if it does end up being a match of Precious Doe and Rilya Wilson, the big question, how did this child make it to Kansas City, Missouri? What happened to her? But the big, big question, how could a little child just get lost in the system and nobody knows where she is and where she's been.
CANDIOTTI: The state of Florida is very, very embarrassed about what happened here. Clearly, there were massive errors made, without checking on the child every month that they were supposed to be, without the supervisor in the case keeping track of the matter, according to the state. Authorities do say that at this point they do not suspect the grandmother in this case of being involved in this in any way.
They say that she is fully cooperating. She, for example, is looking at photographs of employees of the state welfare department to see if she recognizes anybody. But so far they have no match. They're trying to track down the mother, the father, everything they can possibly think of in trying to find the little girl.
KAGAN: So many questions. Susan Candiotti in Miami, thank you so much.
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