Adoptive mother charged with murder; Girl died nearly eight years after receiving injuries

Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC)

Author: ERIC OLSON eolson@heraldsun.com; 419-6647

Durham Police have charged a woman with murdering her adopted daughter, who died nearly eight years after receiving the injuries that investigators contend led to her death.

At the age of 19 months, Melissa Wilkins suffered injuries on Aug. 16, 1995, that sent her to Duke University Hospital. From there, she was transferred to Lenox Baker Children's Hospital in Durham and then to the Hilltop Home for Retarded Children in Raleigh, where she spent the majority of her life.

She needed to be strapped down wherever she sat, Durham Police Detective Art Holland said. She was blind and unable to speak. "The only thing she did at Hilltop was grow to be a little girl," Holland said. "Her mental capacity never changed and her physical capacity never changed. They did all kinds of treatment exercises with her. She never got any better, she just regressed."

Melissa died in June 2003 at the age of 9. But because of a mix-up with Melissa's death certificate, police didn't learn of her death until July of this year.

On Tuesday, Holland arrested the girl's adoptive mother, Melinda Ann Wilkins, 40, and charged her with Melissa's murder.

Wilkins was originally arrested in 1995 and charged with felony child abuse.

At that time, investigators said the child, who was unconscious when she was taken to the hospital, suffered a blood clot on the brain, retinal hemorrhaging, a fractured back and a fractured skull. Investigators also said doctors found evidence of old scars and rib fractures.

Wilkins was convicted of felony child abuse on Nov. 13, 1996, and sentenced to 31 months to 47 months in prison, according to the N.C. Department of Correction. She was released on parole July 13, 1999.

Holland said he doesn't know exactly what happened to Melissa.

"Only [Wilkins] knows and God knows," Holland said. "I wasn't there, but the child sustained some horrific injuries that are non-accidental."

At the time of her death, Melissa's attending physician signed her death certificate as if it were a natural death, Holland said.

Administrators in the state's Vital Records division in Raleigh realized an incorrect death certificate was filed and sent the case back to the N.C. Medical Examiner's Office in Chapel Hill, who contacted Holland July 26, he said.

An autopsy is not possible because Melissa has since been cremated, Holland said.

Police arrested Wilkins, 40, at her house around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. She is being held at the Durham County Jail with no bond. She is scheduled to appear in Durham District Court at 9 a.m. today.

The U.S. Constitution's rule against "double jeopardy" prevents people from being tried twice for the same offense. But Holland said Wilkins' conviction for child abuse in the case doesn't prevent her from being tried for murder. He said that's because child abuse is a distinct crime rather than a "lesser" potential offense in a murder case, such as second-degree murder or manslaughter.

North Carolina law does not place a specific limit on the time that can elapse between someone's assault and their death to permit a murder charge, according to "North Carolina Crimes: A Guidebook on the Elements of Crime," published by the Institute of Government at UNC Chapel Hill. Formerly, a common law rule said a person could not be convicted of murder if the victim died more than a year and a day after the criminal act.

The law requires only that a defendant's actions "be a contributing cause of death if the direct cause is 'a natural result of the criminal act,'" according to the guide. "Thus if the defendant inflicts a dangerous wound that is a contributing cause of death, he or she is liable for murder."