There is no more horrible, there is no more irreparable story than that of Kelsey Smith Briggs. The unnecessary death of a child pains and shocks communities to the core and its effects ripple into lives distant and unconnected. We hold our own children more closely and we demand answers. Kelsey’s memory is entitled to have the real picture of her story exposed: a picture of deceit, and a picture of converging storms from which DHS and her mother could not protect her. A tremendous amount of time and effort has been put into our research and interviews; documents have been poured over and countless people have shared their knowledge to piece together the true story of the life and death of Kelsey. The lack of evidence to support the loudly publicized rendition of Kelsey’s abuse is as compelling as the evidence of what actually happened. What stood out as our investigation progressed was how the system has been manipulated through deception and frequently told, outright lies. In the end, the amount of information compiled could easily fill another Grisham novel set in small town Oklahoma. A battle forged in Lincoln County became drawn unnecessarily along family lines. Every branch of state government, several agencies and countless people far from the town of Meeker have been directly affected by this saga, even if only on an emotional level. Yet the main characters around which this sad story revolves can be distilled down to six people: Kelsey herself, Kathie Briggs (the grandmother), Michael Porter (step-father), Lance Briggs (biological father), Raye Dawn Smith (mother) and District Attorney Richard Smothermon. Our biggest problem in writing this article wasn’t finding people willing to talk, and it wasn’t gathering verifiable documentation or information contained in records; it was how to tell the story as concisely as possible. This tangled story is entirely about Kelsey, but we determined the best way to tell it would be to untangle it one person at a time. Lance Briggs: Biological Father A father should never have to bury his child. It chills the bones to even conceive of such a painful ordeal. In the process of unraveling Kelsey’s story we cannot forget the hurt surely felt by people in her life. Yet, in the unraveling we cannot fully understand Kelsey’s ordeal without uncovering the world into which she was born. That world, whether he wanted it to or not, very much included her father, Lance Briggs. help child Abuse
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 01:22:39 +0000
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