Yesterday made 7 months since the murder of baby Kaylee Burgess. The 2 year old child's body was found behind her maternal grandmother's house -face down in a bucket of water in September of 2012.
At the time, the child had been left in the care of her 19 year old aunt - who told police that the 2 year old went missing from her care while she was watching the evening news. Even though it was made to seem like little Kaylee accidentally drowned herself in a bucket of water, her postmortem stated otherwise that Kaylee did not drown; instead, someone had suffocated her. Since then, police have been treating the child's death as a homicide. But it's 7 months later, and still no one has been charged. 7news travelled to Ladyville today to speak with baby Kaylee's mother who told us in the interview that she has lost all hopes in the justice system:
Deidra Pratt - Mother of 2 year old Kaylee Burgess
"Well, so far, what I know, it's gone cold. It's like no investigation is happening. It's already closed; nobody is doing anything. It's like they already forgot about my daughter already. Kevin and I visited the station so many times. We haven't gotten any kind of cooperation from the police officers. They will tell us to check with Noble, and when we go in to go check Noble, he's never in. You just basically get the turn around. It's hard for both of us because they are treating my daughter's death like something that didn't happen. They are treating it like it's something not important, like something that doesn't need to be closed, or something that needs to get done. Most of all, they are treating it as though we never loved her, or that she never existed in the world. And that's really what we have to deal with every day to know that nobody else cares or is trying to try to get justice for Kaylee. Kevin and I recently went to a legal aid, and they were giving the legal aid a hard time. They were giving the legal aid the turn around, go to the DPP, go to the Ladyville Police Station. They don't even want the legal aid to see the statements. The investigation has change, or every time they give excuses. We try our ways, the next thing I think we need to do is maybe get a lawyer, to actually get results, at least to get the statements to see what all they have to see what's happening, if they have any new evidence, or if they have anything that they can work from in to old evidence that they have to build a case."
Monica Bodden
"Kaylee was found inside a bucket. I understand that the bucket had some water in it. Do you believe that it may have been a drowning, or are you convinced that this was a murder?"
Deidra Pratt
"I am convinced that my daughter was murdered, with all my heart. That's why it hurts us so much because Kaylee died 2 days before her 2 years old birthday, and she was a baby who brought a lot of joy and happiness in this person's life. And she, it's like she doesn't have any heart. She's not worried about anything, but I am convinced that this is murder, and I am not going to stop as a mother, who feels her love. I will try with everything I have to try to get justice. The day my daughter went under the ground, that was the last time I ever saw my entire family. I don't try to reach out them; they don't try to reach out to us. They are still trying to convince people that they are innocent. My sister - I don't know what to say. I try think that maybe she has a heart, and she will make something happen for my daughter because after all, it was her first niece. I said that maybe that feeling of guilt would overcome her some day, but I doubt it."
Monica Bodden
"Do you believe in the justice system?"
Diedra Pratt
"The justice system is bogus. I have to smile for that. The justice system is bogus because my daughter was a 2 year-old. My daughter was murdered; Monica, they have the evidence in those statements because I read those statements. My personal statement which I gave to the Ladyville Police Station has to convince somebody to bring a charge. But, they just refuse; it's like they pause. But, in this world, it's who you know because I know that they could charge somebody, but they refuse."
Multiple family members on the mother's side of the family were detained - but were released from police custody shortly after. The child's 19 year old aunt and her boyfriend were briefly the main suspects in the case. The last time we reported that the position of the DPP's office is that no one has been charged because the only witness to the killing who has come forward is a small child.