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THE MISSING AND EXPLOITED

Please take a moment of your time to look at these pictures and read the case file.  It's people like you who have taken the time that have helped solved cases like this....something wasn't right, or something was off and you read a case file, or see a face and it all comes together and makes sense.

WE MUST NEVER FORGET LITTLE RILYA WILSON
(HER NAME IS REMEMBER I LOVE YOU ALWAYS)
 

Missing Girl's Caregivers Charged

Police Say They Doubt Rilya Wilson, Not Seen Since 2002, Is Still Alive





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Rilya Wilson's caregivers kept her locked in an animal cage. The girl went missing in April 2002 and has not been found.  (AP)



Answers.com

(AP) A 4-year-old foster child whose unsolved disappearance rocked Florida's child welfare agency two years ago was caged and tied up before she vanished, authorities said Wednesday in announcing abuse charges against her two caregivers.

Geralyn Graham, 59, was charged with kidnapping and three counts of aggravated child abuse causing great bodily harm for actions in the months leading up to the 2001 disappearance of Rilya Wilson. Graham is already serving a prison sentence for fraud.

Her roommate, Pamela Graham, was charged with child abuse causing no great harm and child neglect.

The charges stop short of the date of Rilya's suspected disappearance, which remains unsolved.

"We would hope that Rilya Wilson is alive," Miami-Dade police director Robert Parker said. "But in actuality, we fear that actually she's not alive."

Police said that in the last five months of 2000, Geralyn Graham punished the girl by locking her in an animal cage, tying her to her bed and confining her in a laundry room. She could get a life sentence if convicted.

Pamela Graham, 39, who is cooperating with investigators, is accused of failing to protect the girl from the abuse. She could get 10 years.

The state Department of Children & Families discovered in April 2002 that Rilya was missing and that its caseworkers had not made required visits to check on her for at least 15 months.

Rilya was an infant when she was taken by the state from her homeless, crack-addicted mother.

Pamela Graham had custody of the girl and was receiving state aid as her caregiver, while Geralyn Graham claimed to be her grandmother. The women initially identified themselves as half-sisters, but Pamela Graham told co-workers that Geralyn was her wife.

The Grahams say the 4-year-old girl was taken from their home by a DCF worker in January 2001. The agency and police denied that.

"This was really a lie, and I emphasize it was a fabrication and a concoction," Parker said.

Lawyers for the two women did not immediately return calls for comment after the arrests.

Geralyn Graham was sentenced to three years behind bars last year on charges that included accepting welfare payments for the girl long after she disappeared. Pamela Graham was sentenced to two years probation.

Rilya's disappearance led to management changes and a blue-ribbon committee's investigation of DCF. "As a result of the Rilya Wilson case the department has made numerous, significant improvements to ensure this type of tragic crime cannot be repeated," DCF spokesman Bill Spann said.

Rilya's last assigned social worker, DeBorah Muskelly, was placed on probation for official misconduct and agreed to repay the state $2,736 for filing false time sheets.

By Rupa Mikkilineni
Nancy Grace Producer
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- Two little girls vanished on a warm summer day from a playground near their home on Chicago's South Side. Seven years have gone by since Tionda Bradley, 10, and her sister Diamond, 3, went missing.

This photo shows what Diamond Bradley might look like today. She would be 10.

This photo shows what Diamond Bradley might look like today. She would be 10.

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The girls were left alone at home on July 6, 2001, while their mother, Tracey Bradley, went to work. Bradley last saw her daughters at 6 a.m., as she kissed each goodbye, leaving them to sleep a little while longer.

She returned at 11 a.m. to find the girls gone and a note in Tionda's writing saying they were going to the store and to play at a nearby school. Bradley searched for her daughters frantically that day. By nightfall, she called police for help.

For weeks, police, family, friends and volunteers combed Chicago by foot, air and boat. Dogs were used. Divers searched the ponds and lakes.

Investigators followed up every tip, and at one point desperate family members consulted well-known psychic Gale St. John. But the girls had disappeared without a trace.

Private investigator James Miller volunteered his time and has worked closely with family and police. And just when the Bradleys were losing hope, a break in the case came.

Nancy Grace
Cold Cases: Two sisters disappear in Chicago
8 and 10 p.m. ET

Miller was notified last spring that a young girl's photo on the Internet site MySpace bore a close resemblance to Tionda Bradley. Police followed the lead but came to the conclusion that the girl in MySpace could not be Tionda. Records confirmed the other girl's identity.

"I won't be entirely at peace until they do a DNA test on the girl," said the missing sisters' great-aunt, Sheliah Smith. "In my heart, I believe she could be Tionda."

The massive search for Diamond and Tionda also has led investigators to seek answers in Morocco. One theory is that both girls were kidnapped and taken to North Africa by an Arab man who was angry because he was paying child support for one of the children but found out he was not the father. Video Watch how Chicago's biggest search turned up nothing »

Authorities have found no signs of the girls anywhere overseas.

Another clue: On the morning the girls disappeared, Tionda left a voicemail on her mother's cell phone about 8:30 a.m., saying "George" was at the door. In the voicemail, she asks her mother's permission to open the door to let him in.

Tracey Bradley did not get this message until after her daughters were already gone.

Could Tionda and Diamond have opened the door to a stranger who called himself "George" and then snatched them?

It is unclear who he might be. Diamond's father is named George and so is the neighbor who was a part-time baby sitter for the girls. If the girls were taught not to open the door to strangers, neither of these men named George was a stranger.

The police have named no suspects in the case. All family, friends and acquaintances remain "persons of interest," and no one has been ruled out, investigators say.

Today, Tionda would be 17 and Diamond would be 10. Photos of the girls show what they looked like the day they disappeared and what they might look like today through age-progression technology. Police and family urgently ask for the public's help to find Diamond and Tionda Bradley.

There is a $30,000 reward for information that leads to finding the missing sisters. Please call the Chicago Cold Case Unit with tips at 312-746-9690 or use the Web site http://www.findtiondanddiamond.com/.

All About Nancy GraceMissing ChildrenChicago

By Rupa Mikkilineni
Nancy Grace Producer
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NEW YORK (CNN) -- She was just 16 years old, a beautiful girl, straight-A student, with her whole life ahead of her. She hoped to become a nurse.

Chanel Petro-Nixon, 16, disappeared in broad daylight and her body was found in a trash bag.

Chanel Petro-Nixon, 16, disappeared in broad daylight and her body was found in a trash bag.

Brooklyn teenager Chanel Petro-Nixon left her family home at 6:30 p.m. on Father's Day 2006, to walk to an Applebee's restaurant a few blocks away. She'd planned to meet friends there and fill out an application for a summer job at Applebee's.

Friends say she never showed up. No one ever saw her alive again. Four days later, her body was found in another area of Brooklyn, several miles from her home. She'd been strangled and stuffed into a large garbage bag left to be collected with the morning trash on the sidewalk in front of a brownstone.

Chanel went missing in broad daylight in an extremely busy area of Brooklyn. Family, police and community members are certain that someone must have seen something, but no witnesses have come forward. Video Watch how the teen's body was put out with the trash »

Also troubling to police: The coroner says Chanel died within 24 hours of her body being found on June 22. She went missing on June 18. So, where was Chanel for the 48 hours she was alive but missing?

She was strangled, but not sexually assaulted, according to police. Robbery does not seem to be a motive. But Chanel's cell phone and the tennis shoes she was wearing are missing.

Chanel's father, Garvin Nixon, insists that his daughter would not stay out after dark without calling home.

"When we called, she always answered her phone, or would call back immediately within a few minutes to tell us where she was," he said.

Nixon tried calling his daughter to check on her within an hour after she'd left the house. When he didn't get a return call and couldn't reach her, he and Chanel's mother began calling her friends. Her friends had not seen or heard from Chanel either, even though they'd been calling her cell phone repeatedly and leaving urgent messages.

Authorities speculate that perhaps she went with someone she knew and trusted, which could explain why no witnesses observed any struggle between Chanel and her abductor.

Police have investigated Chanel's MySpace page, searching for clues to whom she may have communicated with before leaving her home the day she disappeared.

One theory is that her slaying is linked to that of another local teenager, Jennifer Moore. Like Chanel, she was strangled and her partially-clothed body was found in a garbage bag. But unlike Chanel, Jennifer Moore was raped.

Jennifer Moore's suspected killer, Draymond Coleman, was arrested and police have not ruled him out as a possible suspect in Chanel's slaying.

Police are asking anyone who finds Chanel's cell phone or sneakers to call the anonymous tip line at 1-800-577-TIPS. The cell phone is a Silver Sanyo Sprint phone, model 8200. The shoes are size 6½, white Nike Air Jordan retro sneakers with green trim and the number 14 on them.

A reward of $34,000 is being offered for any information leading to the arrest of the person or people responsible for Chanel's death.

All About Murder and HomicideNancy Grace

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Margaret Haddican, a volunteer firefighter, Army veteran and mother of three, quarreled with her landscaper husband and walked out on him October 9, 2006. She cooled off at her parents' house and returned home later that night.

Her parents say Margaret Haddican never would have left her infant daughter home alone in her crib.

Her parents say Margaret Haddican never would have left her infant daughter home alone in her crib.

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The next morning, she talked on the phone with her best friend. But later in the day, her husband says, she vanished from their home in Warren, New Jersey, while he ran errands.

Husband Timothy McEnroe says he returned home at 3 p.m. to find his wife gone and their 5-month-old daughter home alone in her crib. Haddican's car and broken cell phone were left behind. But, McEnroe says, $11,000 in cash was missing.

Police will not verify his story about the money. In fact, police aren't publicly discussing the case at all as Haddican's disappearance passes the two-year mark this week.

McEnroe did not call police until two days after his wife disappeared. When asked why, he explained that they'd had an argument and that she had a history of walking out, disappearing for a few days, and then returning when she'd calmed down.

Other members of Haddican's family say the couple were having marital problems and that she was considering leaving him. Her parents insist that she has never gone anywhere without telling someone, and that she never would have left her three children behind. Video Where is this missing mother? »

Adding to the mysterious circumstances: Police had been called to their home the previous day on a report of a domestic disturbance. By the time officers arrived, however, Haddican had left for her parents' home.

Nancy Grace
Cold Cases: Missing firefighter
8 and 10 p.m. ET

She returned home that night, and the next morning, she had her regular phone call with her best friend. The friends talked for about half an hour between 8:30 and 9 a.m. Six hours later, Haddican was gone.

There have been many searches of the neighborhood near Haddican's home, as well as other parts of Somerset County, over the past two years. They have come up empty.

A month after she disappeared, police found an Army T-shirt belonging to Haddican on a road about a mile from her home. In July 2007, an anonymous tip led to a search of a stone quarry bordering her backyard.

Search dogs seemed to hit on some kind of scent there, but investigators could find no sign of Haddican in the quarry. Eric Martin, a member of the search team, said the dogs probably reacted to a scent resulting from a combination of dead animals and clay.

McEnroe admits it was a mistake to not report his wife missing sooner, but he also complains that the Warren Police Department did not start searching for her in earnest until five days after she first went missing -- three days after he reported it.

He says that Haddican's temper was widely known by her friends on the police force and that anyone who knew her would assume she just took off for a couple days to cool off. Somerset County prosecutors have not commented or responded to McEnroe's assertion.

And Patrick Haddican, her father, acknowledges that she "had a temper on her," adding that she "sometimes said and did things she didn't mean, in the heat of the moment."

Margaret Haddican weighs 110 pounds and has brown eyes and brown hair. She has a tribal tattoo on her abdomen, a firefighter's helmet tattooed on her left thigh and multiple tattoos on her back.

She was last was seen wearing a gray sweat shirt with "ARMY" written across the front in black letters, white plaid pajama bottoms, white socks and white Nike sneakers. She was also wearing a silver chain with military dog tags and a white-gold wedding ring with three diamonds.

Haddican, an Army veteran, may be using identification with her birth name, Sherwood Halley. She also may be wearing a black military-style jacket and carrying a black duffel bag with additional clothing.

She would have turned 31 in August. Her three daughters miss her, particularly oldest daughter Sarah. The child is now 10, and "not knowing where her mommy is and whether she is even alive is painful for her," Patrick Haddican said.

Police and family urge anyone with information about the whereabouts of Margaret Haddican to anonymously call the Crime-Stoppers hot line at 888-577-8477 or the Warren Township Police at 908-753-1000.

All About Missing PersonsNancy Grace

EDITOR@LORAINCITYPAGE.COM