The Skeleton Key Chronicles

17 hours ago

Well, that didn’t take long. Just over two hours after the Caleb Flynn case was handed to the jury this morning, they were back with a decision. Caleb has been found guilty on all nine counts against him.

There were actually 11 counts still attached to Caleb’s case heading into this morning, but prosecutors asked the judge to dismiss two misdemeanor charges before the jury began deliberating. The judge agreed, leaving nine for them to decide.

And they found him guilty on every one. The prosecution had just rested on Monday afternoon, followed by the defense, which did not call any witnesses of its own. By this morning, the case was in the jury’s hands. The court hasn't announced yet when sentencing will take place.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

19 hours ago

Rilya Wilson would have turned 30 years old today. Instead, her name is still in Florida’s missing-person database more than 25 years after she disappeared from the Miami-Dade home where she was supposed to be safe.

Rilya was four years old, in the custody of Florida’s Department of Children and Families, and somehow, more than a year would pass before DCF realized she was gone. Rilya and her younger sister, Rodricka, had been taken into protective custody in 1999. By April 2000, both girls were living with Pamela and Geralyn Graham. Pamela had temporary custody, while Geralyn cared for the girls during the day.

This is where Rilya’s timeline gets complicated. Florida’s official missing-person record lists January 18th, 2001 as the date she disappeared. But testimony presented years later placed the last time Rilya was seen inside the home sometime in December 2000.

Pamela testified that Geralyn left with both girls one day and returned with only Rodricka. According to Pamela, Geralyn told her Rilya was okay, but she would not be seeing her anymore. Then, on January 16th, Pamela went to a state office and reported that Rilya was no longer living there so benefits being paid for her could be stopped.

Months passed then in the spring of 2001, Pamela and Geralyn got rid of Rilya’s bed, dresser and and all her clothes. Still, DCF did not realize Rilya was missing. And there were supposed to be several layers of oversight. Rilya’s caseworker was expected to see her regularly, supervisors were supposed to review her case, and a judge was supposed to review it every six months. But the caseworker had been documenting visits that never happened, and none of those safeguards revealed that Rilya was no longer there.

It would take until April 2002 for DCF to discover she was missing. Geralyn claimed someone from the department had taken Rilya away for an evaluation and never returned her. But DCF had not taken Rilya. By the time law enforcement became involved, investigators were trying to reconstruct what had happened to a four-year-old who had already been gone for well over a year.

Rilya’s disappearance eventually exposed much larger problems with the way Florida kept track of children under state supervision. The case led to reforms, including the Rilya Wilson Act, which added attendance and reporting safeguards for young children under state supervision.

Geralyn Graham was eventually prosecuted in connection with Rilya’s disappearance. At her 2013 trial, jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict on the most serious charge. Graham was convicted on other charges and sentenced to 55 years. But to this day Rilya has never been found.

Underneath everything that followed, including the investigations, court proceedings and Florida law bearing her name, there is still a little girl who disappeared from a Miami-Dade home more than 25 years ago.

Authoroties ask that anyone with information about Rilya Wilson’s whereabouts can contact the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

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The Skeleton Key Chronicles

24 hours ago

Update 1: Lindsay Clancy’s defense is now asking the judge to end the case before it goes any further, saying prosecutors have failed to show that she was responsible.

Three and a half weeks after Lindsay Clancy’s trial ended without a verdict, everyone headed back to a Plymouth courtroom this morning. This time, there is a lot more to sort out than setting a date for another trial.

When the trial ended on September 4th, Judge William Sullivan scheduled Clancy to return September 29th for a status hearing, trial assignment and a Rule 25 motion. Clancy’s attorneys are asking Sullivan to enter a finding of not guilty rather than put her through another trial.

Since then, the defense has added quite a bit to the conversation.
We learned the jury had split 11-1, with eleven prepared to find Clancy not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility and one juror who was not. Kevin Reddington has now asked Sullivan to investigate that lone juror, raising questions about alleged cellphone use during deliberations and information he provided during jury selection. An attorney representing the juror has pushed back against those claims.

Then came another attempt to stop a second trial altogether.
Clancy’s attorneys are raising double jeopardy and concerns about the holdout juror should have been investigated before the first trial was brought to an end. Ordinarily, a jury that cannot reach a unanimous verdict can result in another trial. The defense says the circumstances here were different and is asking Sullivan to prevent prosecutors from trying Clancy again.

So it's no longer just about figuring out when everyone might do this all over again. Sullivan has the Rule 25 request, questions surrounding the holdout juror and a double jeopardy argument in front of him, while prosecutors have not publicly announced exactly how they intend to proceed.

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