Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 9-13-19

Local
Jury Selection Continues In Murder Trial Of 9-Year-Old
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
On Monday, more than 90 perspective jurors were called for the trial of Granville T. Richie. He is facing a first-de- gree murder charge in the death penalty trial. The trial is expected to last about 3 weeks.
Ritchie has been in jail since his arrest on May 21, 2014.
Five years ago, the Temple Terrace Police Department in- vestigated the disappearance of 9-year-old Felicia Nicole Williams. She was last seen at an apartment complex where she had gone with Ms. Eboni Wiley, an acquain- tance of the family. Ms.
GRANVILLE T. RICHIE ... Charged with first degree murder
Wiley, now 28, was one of the last people to have seen the child alive.
The child’s body was found
the following day in the bay off Courtney Campbell Causeway. Ritchie, 40, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, sexual battery, and aggravated child abuse among
other charges.
During a second interview
with police, Ms. Wiley re- vised her initial story. She told police she left Felecia with Ritchie for about 35 minutes while she went to buy mari- juana. She told police that Ritchie called her and al- legedly said he had given the child some money to buy candy from a CVS. She report- edly drove to the store, but re- turned to the apartment upon Ritchie’s request. She told police they consumed alcohol
FELICIA WILLIAMS
and had sex before Ritchie took her home.
Several hours passed be- fore she contacted Felecia’s family to notify them that the
child was missing. She was ar- rested and charged with pro- viding false information to police during a missing person investigation.
Ritchie allegedly told po- lice that Felecia disappeared during a 45-minute time frame while he and Ms. Wiley were having sex. He said Ms. Wiley briefly looked for the child before he took her home.
Felecia was the daughter of Ms. Felecia Demerson and attended Edison Elemen- tary School.
Ms. Demerson said she has waited for five years for justice for her child. “I am glad that it has not been postponed again and I will be in court.”
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