Where is Justice for Millie and Michael?

     Today, I learned a few things. First, I learned that my old junior high school friend, Millie Worrell, and her three year old son died a horrific death that was presumed by her family and friends to have been caused by her abusive boyfriend (though he was not prosecuted at the time).

The only pic I have of Millie, it's from our junior high school yearbook

 Second, I learned that same abusive boyfriend is facing trial for killing his ex-girlfriend last year. The story he gave to the police before confessing is eerily similar to his unlikely story when questioned about Millie’s death. Is it too late for Millie and Michael? Can there still be justice for them?

     Millie was a brave woman. Her obituary says she died of smoke inhalation. That is the most gentle description possible. I was told she was beaten, her dog killed, the front door nailed shut, and the couch where she lay over three-year-old Michael was set on fire. That’s where the smoke came from. Perdock was present and did not call 911, but a passerby did. How can this be something other than murder? I will be looking at her death certificate this summer to see if this was ruled accidental or homicide, but I’m sure she didn’t nail herself into that house.

     Her friends and family long suspected her boyfriend and Michael’s father, Carl Richard Perdock, of causing her death just before Christmas in 2002. The police questioned and released him after he said he was trying to help Millie but couldn’t do anything. The police dismissed the concerns of Millie’s friends and family. Perdock was able to attend Millie’s funeral and did not shed a tear for her.

     While we all grieve differently, this situation looks even worse when we evaluate where Carl Richard Perdock is today. By his own admission, he punched his former girlfriend, Arianna Villareal, several times, stabbed her with a pencil, and then stuffed her body in a sleeping bag that he buried in a shallow grave in Sky Valley, California in late September 2012. But the court documents tell a different story, as detailed in an article by Laura Yanez:

“According to court documents, his roommate told investigators that Perdock arrived at their home with Villareal in the front passenger seat of his jeep, with a "sack" over her head. He then carried her to a bed "asked for his brass knuckles" before stabbing Villareal with a pair of scissors, he said.

However, Perdock told investigators a different story. The report says Perdock said a man fired at him with a shotgun at Villareal's house when he came over that day, missed and took off.

Perdock claimed Villareal had a bullet hole near her neck, took her to where her body was later found by authorities to tend to the wound. He said he tried giving her CPR until he realized she was dead and then stuffed her body in a sleeping bag and buried her, according to the documentation.”

     Sound familiar? I guess there are now two women who are no longer with us after Perdock “helps”. He is sitting in jail in Indio awaiting trial for Arianna’s torture and murder. Let’s get the justice Millie and Michael deserve and have waited eleven years to receive as well.

Want to help?

• Show up at Perdock’s court hearings with a display (shirt, sign, whatever) that asks for Justice for Millie and Michael out front of the court house.
• Contact the Riverside County Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit or the Palm Desert station at 760-836-1600 and remind them that Investigation #O122710013 is not ready to be closed until charges are filed against Perdock for the deaths of Millie Worrell and Michael Perdock.
• Contact the San Bernardino Sheriff Homicide group at 909-387-3589 and ask them to investigate the death of Millie Worrell and Michael Perdock in light of the recent charges pending against Carl Richard Perdock in Riverside County.
• Leave comments on every news site you come across that mentions the Arianna Villareal homicide, and ask about justice for Millie and Michael.
• If you knew Millie or Carl Richard Perdock, and either of them told you anything that might bring Millie justice, please report it to both the Riverside and San Bernardino Sheriff’s office, as well as commenting here so that I can pass your contact information along to Millie’s family. If you want to do so anonymously, call the tip line at 951-955-2777 instead.

Please feel free to share your stories of Millie and Michael. Millie and her son deserve to be remembered and loved in our hearts forever.

Laura Yanez’s article can be found here: 
http://www.kesq.com/news/Torturous-details-uncovered-in-Sky-Valley-murder-court-documents/-/233092/16941042/-/yqeysez/-/index.html

The Zoo, Part 2

The kids all had a great time at the zoo, as evidenced by my rockin' photography skills below, but I wanted to share something that happened with one of the workers there.

One of the women who works at the zoo came and tried to cheer Starling up. Starling was bored and probably a bit hungry and we were waiting and being boring. The woman got Starling in a good mood again and started talking to the other kids. Rejeanne ignored her, of course, and I felt the need to say she's autistic lest anyone think she's just rude or something. Someday maybe I won't feel the need to do this.

What happened next might really freak a few people out, but it made me a bit homesick and thankful. This woman just touched Rejeanne really quick and prayed over her in good ol' black church fashion. God bless that dear lady for asking the Lord to let my child speak and be the queen her name stands for. She could have lost her job for doing that. She could have really upset me by doing that. But she did it anyways because the spirit moved her. I miss seeing the church ladies in the fancy hats out there praisin' the Lord. It's not something I saw in Orange County or in Vermillion, SD, but I sure saw a lot of it in Duarte. I was so stunned by this lady that I couldn't even muster up an Amen until she had already gone off to the bathroom to  finish cleaning. I still believe that the good Lord works through the warm, work-roughed loving hands of black women everywhere.

Princess Rejie Cake

Rejeanne and Gary taking in the sights

Cyrus makin' friends

Starling was alert and nearly silent for the entire trip. This kid LOVES the zoo!

The desert dome

Starling, blurry as always since she is never actually still

Jellyfish!

Crimson fixing Rejeanne's hair

The Zoo, Part One

Well, here's something I never do anymore...BLOG!! Life has been happy and moving along. We had the chance to escape winter for a moment at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. I still haven't explored the place thoroughly, but I've decided that it might be the Best Zoo Ever. Parts of the exhibits remind me of Disneyland!

Lee had to go to the zoo as part of a class assignment so we figured I could go down later in the day with the kids and meet him there. It was so much fun!! I (shockingly) remembered to take some pictures. I now remember why I tend to not take pictures.

My kids are fast moving and easily distracted. I am terribly impatient and not a great photographer. This combines into epic photo fail most of the time. But hey, we're weird and so are our family photos!

Could have been awesome, if not for the photographer!

At least the peacock was cooperative

and the spider crabs!

Rejie vs Coyote



Here's Rejeanne



Today is Rejeanne's first full day of school this year. She did NOT want to go today. She pitched a huge fit this morning, but gave up on it once she was in the car. We get to school and, as I'm parking, I see a guy in a coyote mascot suit approaching small children as they head to school.

Here's the Coyote

All I can think is "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's never going to want to come here again and the fit is going to be HORRIBLE!!!!" So, I decide maybe I should try to warn her, so I ask "Rejeanne, do you want to see the coyote? Look over there, do you want to go see the dog?" Then the most amazing thing happened: she said "want to see dog".

We go over to the school, and the coyote approaches, and I tell him not to, so he just stayed put and knelt down. Not only did Rejeanne smile and approach him, she offered him her Gary.

Here's Gary

Rejeanne was smiling and gesturing, almost like she was excited there was someone to interact with who didn't talk to her and didn't expect her to talk back. The coyote snuggled Gary and offered the snail back to her. She took it, then coyote opened his arms for a hug, and she demurred, so then he put his hand up for a high-five. She was all about that and gave him a high-five. Then we walked into school.

I was fighting back the happy tears. This was so amazing!

The Cy Brain in Action

Cy: "Let me get my flashlight!" *opens fridge, removes flashlight*

Lee: "Cyrus, why was your flashlight in the refrigerator?"

Cy: "Because I wanted it cold!" *runs off*

Great-Grandma's Flowers

I love that I finally get to tell Cyrus about Great-Grandma's flowers. Of all the bulbs I swiped from my mother-in-law's garden, only this one has produced anything! Hopefully it will make some more bulbs or at least survive for a few years. In the meantime, it makes me so happy to have Helen's special flowers in my kitchen. I never met her, but she spent a lot of time with my husband when he was little and it's nice to have something of hers here.

Decisions, Decisions...

So, I took about a year just contemplating whether or not to keep doing a blog. As far as I can tell, the main person who reads it is my ex-husband's wife and I'm still not really sure how I feel about that.

Anyways, obviously I just decided I may as well keep blogging. I have such a bad memory that it's good to have this spot to remind me of how cute my kids were back when, after I've forgotten.

A lot of things that were up in the air have been mostly settled. We are definitely staying put in our little town for at least four more years, so that is a big thing off of my mind. I love it here. Crimson has successfully conquered her first year of middle school with the best grades of her life. That's a pretty big accomplishment in my mind! The best part is that it was entirely self-motivated. That's one awesome life skill and she's really blessed to have that one!

Rejeanne has made so much progress. She's starting to express herself more verbally which is very exciting for me. She's also engaging other kids more. I wonder if the two are connected at all. Either way, she's really growing and doing well. She's still an impish little sweetheart.

Cyrus makes me laugh so much. He totally has my personality, so I now understand how I infuriate people all the time. Sorry about that. He gets over stuff so fast and he's constantly in motion, both body and mouth! He's my little buddy and I love him to bits! He hurt himself yesterday and I think he pulled a groin muscle. He kept insisting a freckle was an ant bite because he was hurting right under the freckle from the muscle. He said he felt good enough to go to the park, but after 20 minutes he comes over to me and says "Mama, I lost my run!!" So it turns out he's hurt himself enough that he's not able to run, which really seemed to annoy and perplex him. I guess things aren't as much fun if you can't run everywhere!

I guess the other big news in life is that I'm having another baby this summer. I'm due on Cyrus' birthday and he's very excited about getting a baby for his birthday. Of course, he's been planning his birthday wish list AND his birthday party since January. I've never seen such a thing before. Hopefully it will live up to expectations!

The other big thing is that my oldest daughter Kellie is turning 18 this month. It's hard for me to believe. I love her deeply. She's a beautiful, complicated, talented, kind, lovely girl...woman? Yikes! She's tough and I think she's awesome. I'm seriously blessed to have her in my life.

Maybe someday I'll get all five in the same room. You never know, it could happen!