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CNN Live At Daybreak

Look at How Little Rilya Wilson Seems to Have Fallen Through Cracks

Aired May 03, 2002 - 05:08   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I am sure you've heard about this. Investigators in Florida continue trying to learn how a state welfare agency could lose track of a 5-year-old girl for more than a year.

CNN's Susan Candiotti looks at how little Rilya Wilson seems to have fallen through the cracks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mother whose drug use cost her her parental rights...

GLORIA WILSON, MISSING GIRL'S MOTHER: I know that I haven't been the mother that I should have been.

CANDIOTTI: ... recognizes the irony of her case. The agency who took charge of her daughter admits it failed, just like she did.

KATHLEEN KEARNEY, SECRETARY, FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN And FAMILIES: The case work, there is no doubt, was abysmal. For that, I take full responsibility.

WILSON: Obviously, they can't take care of her because if they could, she wouldn't be gone.

CANDIOTTI: Florida detectives are in Ohio taking two DNA samples from Rilya's mother, one for them, one for Kansas City police, who want to compare it to the murdered child known as Precious Doe, unidentified for over a year. Rilya Wilson's mother appeared surprised when a reporter showed her an account describing a birthmark on the victim in Kansas City.

WILSON: This is my daughter's birthmark. It has to be. I just pray to god it's not the wrong one. Please don't let it be her.

CANDIOTTI: Police say the state has now taken into protective custody Rilya's sister and a young teen also living with the woman believed to be Rilya's grandmother. Florida is investigating how she continued to accept $350 monthly payments after Rilya was removed. The caretaker reportedly insists she never kept it a secret from the state.

Also under investigation, Rilya's case worker, for possibly falsifying paperwork.

KEARNEY: Not only did the worker not visit the child, the worker also was putting in mileage requests to get paid to visit the child. She received money.

CANDIOTTI: Among the charges and counter charges, a child no one knew was missing for over a year is nowhere to be found, the trail getting even colder with each passing day.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: That just, it just breaks your heart. You know, you just wonder why someone didn't ask about the little girl like, you know, the grandmother or even the mother. I mean if you don't see a kid for 15 months, don't you call and check? It just breaks your heart.

CHAD MYERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It seems it. Did they say in the story what the name stood for?

COSTELLO: I can't remember but...

MYERS: Remember I Love You Always.

COSTELLO: Yes, the mother, Rilya.

MYERS: Rilya. Yes. Amazing.

COSTELLO: Oh, just sad.

MYERS: Hope they find her. Hope she's just in the system somewhere. You know...

COSTELLO: With a foster family somewhere.

MYERS: Exactly. It's like wait, we didn't know her name was Rilya, you know, and then all of a sudden it all comes back. So, we'll keep our fingers crossed.

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