KANSAS CITY, Missouri -
Every week for a year now, Annette Johnson has met and prayed with other
community members who hope police will identify a girl who was found beheaded
here last April.
The group thought their prayers had been answered this
week.
Child welfare officials in Florida
said Wednesday that a 5-year-old girl whose relatives thought she was in state
care vanished more than a year ago. Some held out hope that she might be the Kansas
City girl, a 3 or 4-year-old nicknamed Precious Doe.
But police announced Wednesday that they think the cases
are unrelated. That news left many in Kansas City
frustrated -- but was welcomed in Florida,
where there's renewed hope that the 5-year-old, Rilya
Wilson, is still alive.
Miami police
relayed a hand print from Rilya, but authorities said
it didn't match that of Precious Doe. Investigators now will turn to DNA
testing to definitively rule out any connection between the cases.
"I feel like we're back to square one, starting all
over again," said Johnson, co-chair of the
Precious Doe Committee, formed to help police crack the case.
Johnson was among about two dozen people who gathered
Wednesday at a makeshift memorial near where the girl's body was found April 28, 2001. The group huddled
around a portable television atop a park bench and watched a live broadcast of
the day's police news conference.
Johnson and a few others sobbed and consoled each other
after the announcement.
"The two girls looked a lot alike. We had all hoped
we'd finally get some answers today," said Cynthia Canady,
a member of the committee who lives in the inner-city neighborhood where the
body was found.
"This killing is horrible and it's unbelievable that
a child can go unidentified this long."
While the committee was disappointed that Precious Doe remains
unidentified, Canady said the group was happy that Rilya may still be alive.
Kansas City
residents have rallied around the effort to determine Precious Doe's identity.
Hundreds have volunteered to answer witness hot lines and pass out fliers with
the child's picture. An advertising company donated 20 billboards soliciting
tips in the case.
Some in Kansas City
still hope that Rilya is Precious Doe.
"I want the DNA tests before I believe it's not
her," said Dominique Waters, who showed up at the memorial. Composite
pictures of the girl have been assembled at the site, along with poems, teddy
bears and flowers.
The Precious Doe Committee held a prayer vigil Wednesday
night at the memorial. The group vowed to continue meeting and praying there until
the case is solved and the killer is brought to justice.
"We all had hoped very much that police had finally
identified this little girl," said Flo Humo, 63. "This community needs closure so that we can
move on."
May 2, 2002
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