Panel Seeks Grand Jury Inquiry in Girl's Death in Hooker
Penny Owen
The Daily Oklahoman
The controversial death of a 9-year-old Hooker girl could be investigated by the multicounty grand jury if a request by the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth is granted.
The commission announced Thursday to the Child Death Review Board that it plans to ask the state Attorney General to put the case of Vicky Dawn Louise Rinkel before the grand jury, which reconvenes in October.
The move came at the urging of the review board, which has been frustrated with District Attorney Richard Dugger of Elk City for not prosecuting what it considers to be a clear-cut case of child abuse.
Dugger did not return The Oklahoman's calls Thursday.
Vicky died from effects of a blow to the head on Oct. 15, 1993, shortly after her adoptive parents rushed her five miles across the Oklahoma border to a Liberal, Kan., hospital. Her mother, Nellie Rinkel, told doctors the girl had been injured playing tag football.
Vicky also had more than 100 bruises on her body and an old head wound, an autopsy report revealed. Family members explained the former foster child bruised easily due to von Willebrand disease, an inherited bleeding disorder.
Police in Kansas and Hooker conducted early investigations - both Hooker Police Chief Larry Hinds and former Liberal police officer Ray Petty said they considered Vicky's death a homicide from the start.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation then took over, but never named a suspect, saying, among other things, that more than one family member was with Vicky when the injury allegedly occurred.
The 5-year-old case has been plagued with complications, including a questionable death certificate, missed opportunities and jurisdictions that cross state borders.
Yet two prominent Oklahoma physicians, one Kansas pediatrician and State Medical Examiner Fred Jordan all are prepared to testify that Vicky's death was a homicide.
Dr. John Stuemky, who heads the child protection team at Children's Hospital, and Dr. Robert Block, head of pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Tulsa, both say they can narrow down the time of injury. And one of the two possible suspects, Vicky's sibling, wasn't strong enough to deliver such a hard blow, Stuemky said.
Both doctors serve on the review board.
The review board also prompted Kansas authorities to amend Vicky's death certificate twice. Last year, Kansas changed the manner of death from unknown to homicide.
Dugger, however, is opposed to prosecuting the case without more evidence. Review board members hope the power of the multicounty grand jury to subpoena witnesses and records will help gather that needed evidence.
Commission and review board members admit their decision is unprecedented. The board, which was formed in 1991, has yet to challenge a death to this extreme.
"This case has taken as long, or is taking as long as it has taken, because it's a first of its kind for this board and I think we took very prudent, careful steps to communicate... with the players that were involved and waited certainly a reasonable amount of time for the response," Block said.
Another board member suggested they were perhaps too patient in waiting for responses from authorities and should become more aggressive in getting information promptly.
The board, which consists of legal, medical, social work and law enforcement authorities, reviews the deaths and near-deaths of all children in Oklahoma to ensure the cases were properly handled. It also makes recommendations to reduce fatalities through education and accident prevention.
Meanwhile, attorney general spokesman Gerald Adams said the move to override the district attorney with grand jury intervention is unusual, not impossible.
"The multicounty grand jury was intended to assist in those decisions, not overrule them," Adams said, adding, "We would certainly offer the services of the multicounty grand jury, if that would be of help."