Remember I Love You Always
What do you say on a day like this?
A little girl should be celebrating her birthday today. One of the big ones -- her 13th. And she should be doing it in relative anonymity, surrounded by family and friends who know her and love her.
Is anyone marking Rilya Wilson's birthday today?
A few weeks ago I was assigned to cover Missing Children's Day in Florida, and I noticed Rilya's picture among those who'd still not been found.
You remember Rilya. Her name was an acronym: "Remember I Love You Always." She was placed in the state foster care system with a woman believed to be her grandmother. Officials don't believe that anymore. Now they believe that woman was Rilya's killer.
Rilya disappeared in 2001. The foster care system, which was supposed to be keeping track of her, didn't realize she was gone for 15 months.
The case sparked outrage and, ultimately, reforms. Next spring, nine years after Rilya's disappearance, a woman will be put on trial, accused of murdering the little girl.
Rilya was 4 when she disappeared.
Today is her 13th birthday.
What does one say? To whom does one say it? I wish no harm had ever come to you, that I had never seen those pictures of you as a toddler or looked at a computer's best guess of what you might have looked like when you were 10?
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement's Missing Endangered Persons Information Clearinghouse still posts Rilya's picture, notwithstanding the Miami-Dade State Attorney's certainty that Rilya is dead.
"If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of this endangered person," the Web site says, "please contact the Miami-Dade Police Department at 305-418-7200."
If only that phone would ring. "Here she lies," the caller could say. Or, perhaps more optimistically, "Here she is!"
One can hope.
Maybe prosecutors are right, and maybe it is too late to save Rilya Wilson's life. But if you could, take a minute or two to look at some of the faces on the Web site of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Maybe there's a face you recognize there.
Maybe, on this day, if we can't recognize Rilya Wilson's birthday, we can reunite a child with his or her parents and give another family something to celebrate.
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work.
Joy Oglesby has a preschooler...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s.
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters.
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces.
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 15, and Lily, 7, and is married to a journalist, Bob Norman. She covers Broward County government, which is filled with almost as much drama as the Norman household. Almost.
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator and the father of a 7-year-old girl, and two boys ages 4 and 3.
Kyara Lomer Camarena has a 2-year-old son, Copelan, and a brand new baby. 
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