GUILTY FL - Milagro Cunningham for kidnap, rape of 8yo girl, Lake Worth, 2005

[KatherineQ]

More details on 8 year old left to die . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/22/girl.found/index.html

 

[kahskye]

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - An 8-year-old girl who had been sexually assaulted and buried under rocks in a trash bin was found alive Sunday by an officer searching a landfill, authorities said. A teenager was charged with attempted murder.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7945083/


Thank God she was found alive!

 

[Hanktothebank]

"Her hand just moved!" Matthews shouted.

Moments later, the officers had unearthed an 8-year-old girl who had lived through a nightmare but survived to identify a teenager as her abductor, sexual attacker and would-be killer, police said."


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/05/23/c1a_rape_0523.html

 

[kahskye]

This was posted last night. So thankful she's alive.

 

[mysteriew]

Actually this is about the third place this story has been posted. The original story was posted in Missing persons information and support:
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23656
Sometimes it helps to do a search before you post a story, sometimes it doesn't.

 

[kk's mom]

More details on 8 year old left to die . . .

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/22/girl.found/index.html

I can't read any details on this child without crying. I cry because I'm so happy they found her alive and I cry because of the terrible way this deviant left her, thinking she would die.

This is a happy ending. My heart goes out to this child and her family for what is ahead of them. I don't know what this world is coming to with the rash of kidnappings, assaults, and even deaths of children lately. I can't remember when it has ever been like this........

I am posting what I just read on FoxNews:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,157306,00.html

 

[PrayersForMaura]

I wonder how LE knew to look there and how they saw the hand. What a miracle! God was definitely with her!

 

[OriginalJerseyGirl]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7945083/

In the hospital, the girl told her godmother, “I was laying there waiting. I knew you were coming,” the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.

Thank God she was right! Her family was shown on CNN last night upon hearing the news, and they were ecstatic! It gives me goose bumps all over again, thinking about it now.

They also said on CNN last night that the perp had stated that it was 3 white men, and that they had beaten him up. Apparently LE took a closer look at him when they realized that he had no injuries from the alleged beating.

 

[Sheromom]

I wonder why he was staying with the godmother; maybe she was a foster parent? I guess we can never know what another person might do.

 

[fran]

I wonder why he was staying with the godmother; maybe she was a foster parent? I guess we can never know what another person might do.

I think I heard last night that he was staying with the godmother as he'd been kicked out of his own house (neighbor?).

JMHO
fran

 

[SewingDeb]

I wonder why he was staying with the godmother; maybe she was a foster parent? I guess we can never know what another person might do.

From the link above:


Holloman said Cunningham's mother lives in the Bahamas and he had been staying with an aunt until she accused him of stealing and kicked him out about four months ago. He then went to live at the home of Lisa Taylor, Holloman's mother and the girl's godmother.

"He was a good person. He would clean and do chores, laugh and play jokes and stuff. We never thought he would do something like that," Holloman said. "The only reason I can think he went crazy like this is his father died and his mother didn't want him. Nobody wanted him."

 

[Sheromom]

Holy Cow! Maybe they had a good reason for not wanting him.

 

[mysteriew]

more info:

The 8-year-old girl has since told a friend that she remembers her attacker towering over her before she passed out, then awoke seven hours later beneath a pile of rocks and concrete blocks when she heard the voices of rescuers.

``She said the last thing she remembers is that he looked over her with these big eyes and then she said she went to sleep. She said she was waiting for us to find her,'' said 18-year-old Danielle Holloman, a family friend who calls the girl her sister.

``She said she knew we would come get her. That's why as soon as the police came, she wiggled her fingers,'' Holloman said Monday.

The girl was found Sunday morning when police Sgt. Mike Hall climbed into a 25-foot long trash bin, opened the lid to a 30-gallon recycling container and saw part of the girl's hand and foot peeking out from under heavy concrete slabs, said police Sgt. Dan Boland.

He said rescuers feared the worst, but their mood turned jubilant when they realized she was alive.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...ay23,0,3626744.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

The two officers stared down at the pile of stones, saw only a small hand and a foot sticking out and assumed the little girl they had frantically searched for was dead.

Finally, they had found her at a secluded landfill, her body stuffed inside a large bright yellow recycling bin, with rocks and crushed concrete covering her. The bin lay inside a trash container, a dismal last resting place.

The officers summoned a superior, Lake Worth Detective Lt. Dave Matthews, who, after seven tense hours of hunting, also thought the case had ended in the worst of tragedies.

And then something happened.

"Her hand just moved!" Matthews shouted.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2005/05/23/c1a_rape_0523.html

 

[Bobbisangel]

Isn't that a miracle though. Why did they ever think to look where she was.
I heard on the news that the first thing that she asked for was their minister because she wanted to thank God that she was alright. What a kid

 

[Sheromom]

I'll bet her rescuers were absolutely jubilant when they saw her hand move! My daughter's ex-husband is a firefighter. When he was just 17, he responded to a call where a little girl had fallen into a cistern and drowned. A few days later he had a call where a man had let his car roll into the ocean with two kids inside. One was dead and the other very brain damaged for life. I thought he would quit; he was so upset! Just a kid himself. But he told me what a wonderful thing it is when you can actually help; the reward for the hard work involved. I am so glad these rescuers had a reward that day.

 

[SewingDeb]

Holy Cow! Maybe they had a good reason for not wanting him.

I'll bet they did. Nancy Grace was wondering if he is actually only 17. IMO, he looks to be in his twenties.

 

[MistyGirl]

Did we ever hear anything about this poor little girl being missing? When did she actually go missing anyone know?

 

[mysteriew]

The victim's head, chest, arms and legs are swollen, and doctors planned to have her undergo a comprehensive MRI exam to assess any internal injuries, her godmother said. But the girl was in good spirits.

"She's alert, she's talking, she's joking around," the godmother said. "She's just so normal that it's weird."

The victim did bring up the assault, comparing her assailant to a serial killer, the godmother said.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/lo...ay25,0,4544252.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Did we ever hear anything about this poor little girl being missing? When did she actually go missing anyone know?

I believe she was missing over night. We have another more comprehensive thread somewhere here. I'll see if I can find it, but someone else may in the meantime.

 

[Sheromom]

I'll bet they did. Nancy Grace was wondering if he is actually only 17. IMO, he looks to be in his twenties.

I agree but that may just be the result of leading a bad life.