DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
~ Just Retribution ~
HTML https://justretribution.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Upcoming Executions
*****************************************************
#Post#: 319--------------------------------------------------
~ Anthony Wainwright, (FL) ~
By: BuzzC Date: April 29, 2019, 8:47 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Anthony F. Wainwright is pure evil personified.
[IMG]
HTML http://www.dc.state.fl.us/inmatephotos/1/123847.jpg[/img]
He and his crime partner, Richard E. Hamilton, kidnapped at
gunpoint the very beautiful Lake City Community College student
nurse, Carmen Gayheart, from the Lake City, Florida Winn-Dixie
food store parking lot.
Carmen had told the would-be killers when she was being
kidnapped, she said, "Please don't kill me, I'm a wife and I'm a
mother."
They committed this senselessly brutal crime in broad daylight
shortly after twelve noon as Carmen was on her way out of the
store after purchasing baby food for her two toddlers, who were
still at the daycare just down the street.
The date was Wednesday, the 27th day of April, 1994. Carmen, 23,
was due to pick up her kids, but instead was abducted and taken
15 miles north, off Interstate 75, to a wooded area of Hamilton
County. There, she was brutally raped. She was then robbed,
strangled, and shot dead through her head with a .22 caliber
rifle.
Wainwright & Hamilton were both escapees from Carteret
Correctional Center in Newport, North Carolina at the time that
they kidnapped, robbed, raped, strangled, and assassinated the
young mother.
Immediately after Carmen's murder, the two killers fled in her
Bronco. The next day they were involved in a shoot out with a
Mississippi State Trooper and were finally arrested.
Hamilton was the shooter in the attempted killing of the state
trooper. Wainwright was driving at that time.
As part of her nursing study program, Carmen had been working at
the Lake City VA Medical Center. The unit was called 'Two
South.' She had attended two weeks of work study there before
reporting back to LCCC.
Richard Hamilton gave several statements to police wherein he
admitted kidnapping, robbing, and raping Carmen, but he claimed
that Wainwright was the one who strangled and shot her.
Anthony Wainwright on the other hand, admitted to participating
in the kidnapping and robbery, but asserted that Hamilton was
the one who had raped and killed her.
Wainwright & Hamilton were both charged with first-degree
murder, sexual battery, robbery, and kidnapping, all with a
firearm, and were found guilty as charged.
For their efforts both Wainwright & Hamilton were sent to
Florida's Death Row to await the 'final justice,' (i.e. Carmen's
Revenge) that their execution will bring. These two monsters
deserve nothing more nor less than that.
Both killers also received three consecutive life prison
sentences in addition to their death sentence.
Some of the testimony given during the trial by Wainwright's
former cellmate, Robert Murphy--
Q. "Did Tony (Wainwright) say whether or not she [Gayheart] was
naked or clothed when she was killed?"
A. "Naked."
Q. "Did he tell you that they had killed anybody else?"
A. "He did. He mentioned something about after they had escaped
on the way down from North Carolina somewhere, that they had run
across some black people, a drug dealer or whatever, they robbed
and killed them. He didn't go into no detail about that. That
was about it."
Getting back to the case at hand, Murphy said, "Tony had her
[Gayheart] get out of the truck and lay in front of it on the
ground buck naked, and commenced to strangle her." "And what he
told me is that she didn't die." Hamilton's lawyer then asked,
"What do you mean, she didn't die?" Murphy replied, "You know,
Tony said, "Well, like when you hit a puppy in the head and it
kind of kicks before it dies, that's what she was doing. And
that's when I shot her in the back of the head twice and drug
her off into a ditch."
Wainwright's semen was found on the rear seat cover of the Ford
Bronco, along with some of Carmen's type 'A' blood and
Wainwright's type 'O' blood. Carmen's badly beaten, raped,
robbed, strangled, and shot body was found partially n*d* at the
scene of the crime some five days later.
Furthermore, Deputy Daniels testified that he learned the
following in his discussion with Wainwright:
Wainwright stated that Hamilton folded the backseat down and got
back into the Bronco. He made Carmen get all the way into the
rear of the Bronco with him and ordered her to take off all her
clothes. Wainwright said the tailgate was up and the back window
was down.
Wainwright said he walked around, got his cigarettes out of the
Bronco and told Hamilton to "come on." Hamilton was busy raping
Carmen at this time, having her lay over the backseat on her
stomach while he mounted her from behind. Wainwright said
Hamilton and Carmen were in the Bronco for about ten minutes. He
said Carmen was crying and asking if they were going to let her
go.
Carmen was kidnapped, robbed, raped, strangled, and murdered.
Her only crime was to stop off at the store to pick up some baby
food. For this sin she lost everything. She lost her SUV, her
clothing, her dignity, her loving husband... and her life.
The loss that concerned her the most though, the loss that
tormented her mind as her captors tormented her body, was the
loss of her children. In those final moments of her life, that
was what Carmen had talked about - her children.
Both criminals eventually admitted to raping Ms. Gayheart,
although the question of who was actually her shooter remains
unanswerable to this very day. That's because both killers lie
and have lied their entire adult lives.
Carmen was found on Monday, May the 2nd. She was laid to rest in
Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens, on Saturday, the 7th day of May,
1994. Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens is located approximately two
miles from the Winn-Dixie store, where her terrible ordeal
began.
[IMG]
HTML http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v63/Maverick1862/graves/carmengayheartgrave.jpg[/img]
#Post#: 322--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Anthony Wainwright, (FL) ~
By: BuzzC Date: April 29, 2019, 9:08 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Corrections Offender Network
(This information was current as of 4/28/2019)
DC Number:
123847
Name:
WAINWRIGHT, ANTHONY F
Race:
WHITE
Sex:
MALE
Birth Date:
10/22/1970
Initial Receipt Date:
06/12/1995
Current Facility:
UNION C.I.
Current Custody:
MAXIMUM
Current Release Date:
DEATH SENTENCE
Special Note:
See Detainer Section
Aliases: ANTHONY WAINWRIGHT, ANTHONY FLOYD WAINWRIGHT
Current Prison Sentence History:
Offense Date
Offense
Sentence Date
County
Case No.
Prison Sentence Length
04/27/1994 ROBB. GUN OR DEADLY WPN 06/01/1995 HAMILTON 9400150
SENTENCED TO LIFE
04/27/1994 KIDNAP;COMM.OR FAC.FELONY 06/01/1995 HAMILTON 9400150
SENTENCED TO LIFE
04/27/1994 SEX BAT/ WPN. OR FORCE 06/01/1995 HAMILTON 9400150
SENTENCED TO LIFE
04/27/1994 1ST DG MUR/PREMED. OR ATT. 06/12/1995 HAMILTON
9400150 DEATH SENTENCE
Detainers:(Further information may be obtained by contacting the
detaining agency)
Detainer Date
Agency
Type
Date Canceled
01/09/1997 N.C. DEPT OF CORR. DETAIN
01/09/1997 RALEIGH, N.C. DETAIN
Incarceration History:
Date In-Custody
Date Out-Custody
06/12/1995 - Currently Incarcerated
#Post#: 323--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Anthony Wainwright, (FL) ~
By: BuzzC Date: April 29, 2019, 9:38 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
WAINWRIGHT v. STATE
Supreme Court of Florida.
Anthony Floyd WAINWRIGHT, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida,
Appellee.
No. 86022.
Decided: November 13, 1997
Steven Seliger of Garcia and Seliger, Quincy, for Appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General and Carolyn M.
Snurkowski, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for
Appellee.
We have on appeal the judgment and sentence of the trial court
imposing the death penalty on Anthony Wainwright.   We
have jurisdiction.  Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.
  We affirm.
Anthony Wainwright and Richard Hamilton escaped from prison in
North Carolina, stole a Cadillac and guns, and drove to Florida.
  In Lake City, the two decided to steal another car and
on April 27, 1994, accosted Carmen Gayheart, a young mother of
two, at gunpoint as she loaded groceries into her Ford Bronco in
a Winn-Dixie parking lot.   They stole the Bronco and
headed north on I-75. They raped, strangled, and executed
Gayheart by shooting her twice in the back of the head, and were
arrested the next day in Mississippi following a shootout with
police.
Upon arrest, Wainwright revealed to officers that he had AIDS
and in subsequent statements admitted to raping Mrs. Gayheart
despite his illness after kidnapping and robbing her.   He
claimed, however, that it was Hamilton who strangled and shot
her.1  Wainwright was charged with first-degree murder,
robbery, kidnapping, and sexual battery, all with a firearm, and
at trial fellow prisoners testified that he admitted he was the
shooter.   He was convicted as charged, and during the
penalty phase his mother testified inter alia that until he was
fourteen years old he was a bed wetter.   The jury
unanimously recommended death and the judge imposed death based
on six aggravating circumstances,2 no statutory mitigating
circumstances, and several nonstatutory mitigating
circumstances.3  Wainwright raises nine issues on appeal.4
 Wainwright first claims that the trial court erred in
admitting his post-arrest statements to police.   He was
arrested in Mississippi and voluntarily returned to Florida.
  On his return, officers reached an agreement with
Wainwright and his lawyer whereby the State would not seek the
death penalty if Wainwright met three conditions:  (1) He
did not contribute to Gayheart's death;  (2) he was
truthful in his conversations with police;  and (3) he
passed a lie detector test.   Pursuant to this agreement,
Wainwright made a number of incriminating statements from May 9
to May 20, 1994, and assisted officers in recovering evidence of
the crime.   When he was transported to the State
Attorney's office on May 20, however, he conferred with his
lawyer, admitted for the first time that had sexually assaulted
Gayheart, and refused to take the lie detector test.  
Police had no further contact with Wainwright after that point.
  The trial court denied Wainwright's motion to suppress
these statements, and Wainwright claims this was error.  
We disagree.
This issue is addressed by Florida Statutes and this Court's
rules of procedure, both of which provide that statements made
“in connection with” a plea are inadmissible.  Section
90.410, Florida Statutes (1993), states:
Evidence of a plea of guilty, later withdrawn;  a plea of
nolo contendere;  or an offer to plead guilty or nolo
contendere to the crime charged or any other crime is
inadmissible in any civil or criminal proceeding.  
Evidence of statements made in connection with any of the pleas
or offers is inadmissible, except when such statements are
offered in a prosecution under chapter 837.
§ 90.410, Fla. Stat. (1993) (emphasis added).  
Further, Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.172(h) provides:
Except as otherwise provided in this rule, evidence of an offer
or a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, later withdrawn, or of
statements made in connection therewith, is not admissible in
any civil or criminal proceeding against the person who made the
plea or offer.
Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.172(h) (emphasis added).   This Court
explained the meaning of the phrase “in connection with” in
Groover v. State, 458 So.2d 226 (Fla.1984):
This Court has not heretofore considered whether a sworn
statement made in fulfillment of a negotiated plea bargain-as
opposed to a statement made to induce or to enhance
negotiations-is a statement made in connection with a plea for
the purposes of the rule or of the statute.   Florida's
limitation on the use of such statements is derived from the
analogous federal rule and this Court has looked to judicial
gloss of the federal rule in construing the state version.
 [The federal counterpart to the Florida rule] was adopted
to promote plea bargaining by allowing a defendant to negotiate
without waiving fifth amendment protection.  “The most
significant factor in the rule's adoption was the need for free
and open discussion between the prosecution and the defense
during attempts to reach a compromise.”   This Court has
applied the federal courts' narrow construction of [the federal
rule] to [the Florida rule]․  When an agreement has
been reached, further statements cannot be made in the
expectation of negotiating a plea.   Nor does the policy
of fostering frank discussion between prosecution and defense
require extending protection to statements made in fulfillment
of an agreed-to bargain.
Id. at 228 (citations omitted)(quoting United States v. Davis,
617 F.2d 677, 683 (D.C.Cir.1979))(alteration in original).
In the present case, after hearing testimony and argument of
counsel, the trial court made the following finding:  “As
to the motions before the Court on the three days in question,
the Court finds that [the plea] was in the performance stage,
and the statements will be admitted.”   Our review of the
record shows that competent substantial evidence supports this
finding.   Sheriff Reid testified as follows:
A.  Yes, sir.   The first stipulation was that he
could not have contributed in any manner to her death.  
That was number one.   If he contributed to her death, you
know, we didn't even want to talk to him about that.  
Number two, he had to pass that-he had to prove that to us by
passing a polygraph test to show us that he did not
significantly contribute to her death in any physical manner.
Q. And was he warned that if he was not truthful that
everything he said, and if he did not pass the polygraph that
everything he said could and would be used against him?
A.  Absolutely, that's affirmative.   If he didn't
tell us the truth about everything, then everything was off.
Q. And what does that get him then if he is completely
truthful and he didn't contribute to her death and he passes a
polygraph test?
A.  Then the State would agree not to seek the death
penalty.
Reid's testimony indicates that by the time Wainwright made the
incriminating statements, the agreement between the parties was
a fait accompli.   There was no need for “free and open
discussions,” i.e., privileged discussions, since the deal
already had been sealed.   No public policy would be
furthered by suppressing such statements.   We find no
error.5
At the time of trial, the State had provided defense counsel
with three genetic loci on the sperm sample from the back seat
of the Bronco, and defense counsel argued thusly in opening:
I suggest to you that the testimony of the DNA experts in this
case will leave you asking more questions than they will
answer․   Why, if under the RFLP testing processes
there are six or seven probes that are available for examination
that would perhaps bring to the jury the type of astronomical
odds that are bandied about in the DNA cases, were only three
probes, only three probes attempted as to Anthony Wainwright?
  Why not four, five or six?
You will not hear from any expert from the state that they can
state with any degree of assertiveness that Anthony Wainwright
is the donor of this sample they claim to be a sperm sample of
some white male in the population of the United States.
At the end of the day following opening argument, the State told
defense counsel that new test results revealed three additional
genetic loci, making a total of six, and the odds now against
the donor being anyone but Wainwright were astronomical.  
When defense counsel later sought to exclude the additional
evidence, the court heard argument and ruled as follows:
Because of the amount of argument we had in Hamilton County at
the jury selection at the beginning of this trial over there,
the Court feels that everyone was on notice that the State was
proceeding in the DNA testings.   The best solution there
is that since we have this sick juror, we'll deny your motion,
give you twenty-four hours to prepare for the conclusion of the
testing and the results of which you have.
Wainwright contends that the court erred in admitting the
additional evidence.   We disagree.   Wainwright
does not allege that the State deliberately withheld the
evidence or committed some other discovery violation, but simply
that the State was dilatory in conducting the DNA tests.  
We note, however, that admissibility of this evidence is within
the trial court's discretion and the court gave the defense a
twenty-four hour continuance to allow its expert to evaluate the
additional evidence.6  Defense counsel made no subsequent
objection.   We find no abuse of discretion.
Wainwright claims that the State did not establish the corpus
delicti for the sexual battery charge and that his confession to
that crime was thus inadmissible.   We disagree.  
This Court set out the standard for corpus delicti in Meyers v.
State, 704 So.2d 1368 (Fla.1997):
To admit a defendant's confession, the state must prove the
corpus delicti either by direct or circumstantial evidence.
 Bassett [v. State, 449 So.2d 803, 807 (Fla.1984) ];
 State v. Allen, 335 So.2d 823, 825 (Fla.1976).   It
is enough if the evidence tends to show that the crime was
committed;  proof beyond a reasonable doubt is not
mandatory.  Bassett, 449 So.2d at 807;  Allen, 335
So.2d at 825.   To support a conviction, however, the
corpus delicti must be established beyond a reasonable doubt.
 Id.;  Cross v. State, 96 Fla. 768, 119 So. 380, 384
(1928).
704 So.2d at 1369-70.
The record in the present case shows that, when found, the body
of the victim was too badly decomposed to reveal physiological
signs of sexual assault.   Nevertheless, other proof was
introduced:  Semen was found on the rear seat cover of the
Bronco;  blood types A and O were found on the seat cover
(Gayheart is A, Wainwright is O);  Gayheart was found
naked except for a pair of shorts;  Wainwright's
fingerprints were found in the Bronco.   We note that
aside from Wainwright's confession to police, he also confessed
to the inmates who testified against him.   We conclude
that the State introduced proof of sexual assault independent of
Wainwright's confession that “tends to show that the crime was
committed.”  Meyers, 704 So.2d at 1370. We find no error.
In addition to murder, Wainwright was convicted of three
non-capital offenses:  robbery, kidnapping, and sexual
battery, all with a firearm.   He was sentenced to
consecutive life terms on each count.   On the sentencing
forms, the trial court checked the blanks requiring Wainwright
to serve twenty-five-year mandatory minimum terms on each count,
and the blanks indicating that the trial court was retaining
jurisdiction over the defendant on each count.  
Wainwright claims that these entries were error and the State
agrees.
Our review of the record shows that the twenty-five-year
mandatory minimum terms noted on Wainwright's sentencing forms
are applicable only to capital offenses.7  As noted above,
Wainwright's crimes that are in issue in this claim are all
non-capital offenses.   Further, as both Wainwright and
the State point out, a court cannot retain jurisdiction over a
life term because such a sentence is indeterminate.8
 Again, Wainwright's sentences that are in issue in this
claim are all life sentences.   Accordingly, we order that
the trial court's marks on these blanks be struck so that
Wainwright's sentencing forms for the non-capital offenses
reflect the imposition of no mandatory minimum terms under
section 775.082(1), Florida Statutes (1993), and no retention of
jurisdiction under section 947.16(3), Florida Statutes (1983).
  We find the remainder of Wainwright's claims to be
without merit.9
Based on the foregoing, we conclude that competent substantial
evidence supports the conviction for first-degree murder and
sentence of death and that the death sentence is proportionate.
  We affirm the convictions and sentences as corrected
above.
It is so ordered.
FOOTNOTES
1.  Cf. Hamilton v. State, 703 So.2d 1038 (Fla.1997)
(addressing codefendant Hamilton's claims).
2.  The court found the following:  1) Wainwright
committed the murder while under sentence of imprisonment;
 2) Wainwright had been convicted of a prior violent
felony;  3) the murder was committed during the course of
a robbery, kidnapping, and sexual battery;  4) the murder
was committed to effect an escape;  5) the murder was
especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel;  6) the murder
was committed in a cold, calculated, and premeditated manner.
3.  The court found the following:  “The Court
finds that defendant's difficulties in school and his social
adjustment problems, due in part to his problems associated with
bed-wetting do provide some measure of mitigation.”
4.  Wainwright claims that the court erred on the
following points:  (1) in allowing Wainwright's pre-trial
statements to be introduced;  (2) in allowing the final
three DNA loci to be introduced;  (3) in allowing the case
to be tried jointly with separate juries;  (4) in allowing
introduction of evidence of other crimes;  (5) in removing
a juror on the tenth day of trial;  (6) in allowing
introduction of testimony that Gayheart routinely picked her
kids up from preschool;  (7) in overlooking the State's
failure to establish the corpus delicti of sexual assault;
 (8) in allowing introduction of Wainwright's statement to
police that he had AIDS;  and (9) in imposing the
mandatory minimum portions of the noncapital sentences, and in
retaining jurisdiction over the life sentences.
5.  See also Stevens v. State, 419 So.2d 1058 (Fla.1982).
6.  Cf. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.220(n)(1):If, at any time
during the course of the proceedings, it is brought to the
attention of the court that a party has failed to comply with an
applicable discovery rule or with an order issued pursuant to an
applicable discovery rule, the court may order the party to
comply with the discovery or inspection of materials not
previously disclosed or produced, grant a continuance, grant a
mistrial, prohibit the party from calling a witness not
disclosed or introducing in evidence the material not disclosed,
or enter such other order as it deems just under the
circumstances.
7.  See § 775.082(1), Fla. Stat. (1993).
8.  See generally § 947.16(4), Fla. Stat. (1993).
  See also Willis v. State, 447 So.2d 283, 283 (Fla. 2d
DCA 1983) (“We hold that the trial court erred in retaining
jurisdiction over the life sentence because a life span is
immeasurable.”).
9.  Issues 3-6 and 8 are without merit.
PER CURIAM.
KOGAN, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, GRIMES, HARDING, WELLS and
ANSTEAD, JJ., concur.
HTML https://caselaw.findlaw.com/fl-supreme-court/1254623.html
8)
#Post#: 325--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Anthony Wainwright, (FL) ~
By: BuzzC Date: April 29, 2019, 10:04 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
PRISON ESCAPEES SENTENCED TO DEATH IN R*p*, MURDER OF EX-BROWARD
WOMAN--
Tuesday, June 13, 1995
Carmen Tortora Gayheart should have been showing off a new
nursing diploma and cheering on 6-year-old Jessica and
4-year-old Chad as they learned to swim this spring.
Instead, a stone angel marks the scrub oak thicket in rural
Hamilton County where Gayheart, 23, begged in vain for her life.
Flowers of pink, purple and white dot the lonely spot where she
was raped, strangled and shot in the back of the head by two
prison escapees from North Carolina.
On Monday, Richard Eugene Hamilton, 32, and Anthony Floyd
Wainwright, 24, were sentenced to die in Florida's electric
chair for those crimes. Circuit Court Judge E. Vernon Douglas,
following jury recommendations in imposing the sentences, called
the two men's actions "conscienceless, pitiless."
When the death penalties were announced, Carmen's father,
Richard Tortora of Plantation, punched the air with his right
fist. Her mother, Joanne Tortora of Oakland Park, wept quietly.
"It was way too much for anyone to go through. That terror. It
breaks my heart," Joanne Tortora said. "And Carmen was such a
sweetheart. She'd pick up a bug and put it out the door so I
wouldn't kill it. That this should happen to her is
unbelievable."
Five years ago, Carmen and her husband, Ricky, left the Fort
Lauderdale area - where both grew up - to raise their young
family in what they thought was a safer place. They built a
brick home on 10 acres near the Ichetucknee River south of Lake
City.
But on April 27, 1994, in a busy Winn-Dixie parking lot in Lake
City, she was abducted at midday - just moments before she was
due to pick up her two children at a day care center. She was
killed within hours, though her body wasn't found for a week.
For a while, her distraught husband drove day after day to the
murder site, about halfway between Tallahassee and Jacksonville
near the Georgia border. Now he holds his pain within, except
for an occasional flash of anger.
"Not until they die in the electric chair - not until then will
justice be done," Ricky Gayheart, 28, said after the sentencing.
"And then, never. It takes eight seconds to die in an electric
chair. Look what Carmen went through."
--
Four days before the murder, Hamilton walked away from his job
outside the gates of Carteret Correctional Center in North
Carolina and Wainwright jumped the fence.
Aided by their girlfriends, and stealing a car and guns along
the way, they headed south. Later, one of them would claim to
have killed a girl in Daytona Beach on the trip, though no body
was ever found.
Lake City was an accidental destination and Carmen's death a
heartbreaking coincidence. The killers' stolen Cadillac had a
broken water pump, so they wanted a new vehicle. They spotted a
slim, brown-eyed, brown-haired woman coming out of a convenience
store and began to follow her.
Some of the ugliest and saddest details of the crime surfaced as
Hamilton and Wainwright tried to blame each other for the
murder: that Carmen Gayheart was brutally raped almost
immediately, that she begged for mercy so she could see her
daughter and son again, that they discussed how to kill her
while she lay nearby, that she quivered while being strangled
with a towel.
Hamilton and Wainwright were arrested the next day after a gun
battle with a Mississippi trooper.
Wainwright, back in jail, bragged about the murder to other
inmates. Throughout the trial, neither Hamilton nor Wainwright
showed remorse. Hamilton sometimes smirked and even blew kisses.
Neither testified. But Hamilton read a statement on Monday that
blamed the political system for subjecting him to the death
penalty.
Earlier Monday, Hamilton may have been planning yet another
escape from jail. He talked of it in a note he tried to send
paper airplane-style to his accomplice.
When the death sentences were read, the killers' faces were
chillingly blank.
--
Carmen and Ricky's parents, sisters, half-brothers, aunts,
uncles, cousins and friends - a loving group of more than two
dozen - often sat through the trial together. Many made the long
trip from Fort Lauderdale over and over.
On Monday, they drove to the isolated spot where Carmen died to
say a communal Lord's Prayer. They brought a statue of the
Virgin Mary, a role Carmen played at age 4 in a Christmas
pageant.
A butterfly, brown with white markings, fluttered by and rested
on the Virgin Mary and the stone angel.
"It's Carmen," said her sister, Maria.
But peace is hard to come by for this grieving family.
Chad, Carmen's son, once pleaded for someone to dig up his
mother. He then started tearing up the dirt with his own hands.
And Jessica, Carmen's daughter, told her grandmother, Gale
Gayheart of Fort Lauderdale: "My heart hurts so bad I can't
breathe. It's never going to stop hurting, is it?"
*****************************************************