Has anyone else seen this article? It was so amazing that I thought it should be shared.
Girl missing a year without anyone knowing
May 1, 2002 Posted: 8:55 AM EDT (1255 GMT)
MIAMI, Florida (AP) -- Child welfare officials in Florida acknowledge that a 5-year-old girl remained missing for more than a year before anyone noticed because of a bureaucratic blunder.
Rilya Wilson, who should have been monitored monthly by child welfare agents, was reported missing only last Thursday. Her grandmother, who was caring for the girl and two siblings, said someone who claimed to be a Department of Children and Families representative took the girl in late 2000 or early 2001, saying she needed to be evaluated.
The girl was never returned. The grandmother, whom police say is not a suspect, thought Rilya was still with DCF.
"We're hoping it's just a slip-up in the system and the kid is OK," said Miami-Dade police Detective Joey Giordano.
Meanwhile, Kansas City police were investigating if an unidentified girl found beheaded in Missouri last April is the missing child.
Palm prints of the missing girl were sent from Miami to determine if they match those of the girl known only as Precious Doe, whose decapitated body was found April 28, 2001, in east Kansas City. A searcher found her head three days later.
Besides palm prints, Kansas City police want to compare DNA between Precious Doe and one of Rilya's relatives.
After seeing pictures of Rilya, Kansas City police homicide Capt. Randy Hopkins said there were similarities between Precious Doe and the girl, The Miami Herald reported in its Wednesday editions.
"It looks very promising in that the physical characteristics -- facial features, body frame, age and the time she was missing -- are all very similar," he said.
Miami welfare officials never learned about the girl's disappearance because her caseworker falsified paperwork, claiming she had made visits to the grandmother's home when she hadn't.
The grandmother was shown a photo of the caseworker and said she was not the person who took Rilya.
Charles Auslander, head of the agency's Miami district, said it is unclear if whoever took the girl was a state employee or just someone claiming to be a caseworker.
"Our records basically reflect that the child was happy and healthy in the grandmother's placement and the progress notes ... end in January 2001," he said. It appears that the caseworker made no visits after that, he added.