FL FL - Pilar Rodriguez, 3, Hollywood, 30 Jan 1999 *Guilty*

[Rayemonde]

Wilson is accused of raping, beating and ultimately killing the girl, whose body was never found...

Wilson refused to take Pilar to a hospital after she hit her head because the bruises from her beating would become evident, Harding-Jones testified.

https://www.winknews.com/2017/10/11/charlotte-county-cold-case-trial-continues/

 

[Rayemonde]

Five-time convicted felon Jessie Clapham told jurors that Keith Wilson confessed to killing Pilar after he saw her foot dangling out of a trunk.

“I walked out there and I glanced at the trunk of the car and they had something wrapped in a blanket and I seen a little purple foot sticking out,” Clapham said. “They shut the trunk and told me to go back inside and mind my business.”

Clapham’s statement opened the case back in 2009. The statement helped lead investigators to Wilson...

"I asked him if that was the little girl that I seen in the trunk and he said yeah, she has suffocated somehow,” Clapham said.

Clapham’s testimony is inconsistent with Pilar’s babysitter, Melissa Harding-Jones. Last week in court, Harding-Jones said Pilar was beaten, stuffed into a garbage bag and then disposed of...

Clapham told jurors that Wilson said police would never find her because she is in a septic tank.

https://www.winknews.com/2017/10/16/new-details-unveiled-during-charlotte-county-murder-trial/

 

[Rayemonde]

Keith Wilson was the only witness listed for the defense in the case, and he spent hours on the stand...

The state offered several rebuttal witnesses after Wilson testified, including an inmate at the Charlotte County Jail and the recalling of Melissa Harding-Jones (formerly Cooper), Wilson’s former girlfriend and Pilar Rodriguez’s babysitter.

Harding-Jones told the jury that Wilson drowned both her dog and her hamster when she was living in his Kentucky home.

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/36620371/man-accused-of-3-year-olds-murder-testifies-in-court

 

[Rayemonde]

Kurt Mehl said that proving Rodriguez was murdered without a body has been the most difficult part of the investigation.

Mehl has been in the Cold Case Unit since 2009 and said even though the criminal side is over, their work is far from done.

"It's not closed as far as trying to find her [Rodriguez's] body," Mehl said. "That will continue through the end of time, or we find her."

According to the unit, one of the most significant moments in the case was when Wilson's step-cousin came forward and shared that he had seen a body of a young child in the trunk of Wilson's car and that he confided in him about the murder.

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/36684802/suspect-convicted-in-18-year-old-murder-investigation

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Man convicted of killing Punta Gorda toddler sentenced to life

Charlotte County Judge George Richards had harsh words for Wilson right before he sentenced him to life in prison, “This girl was born into a hard life. Her mother wasn’t present and her father, who obviously loved her very much but struggled to support her financially then she ends up with Mr. Wilson who made that child feel so much better by torturing her then killing her.”

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/37040071/man-who-killed-3-year-old-sentenced-to-life

Pilar's father spoke mainly through the state attorney, who read a prepared statement about Marco Rodriguez's life since the loss of his daughter, whose body hasn't been found. Rodriguez said he doesn't sleep, overwhelmed with grief over the loss.

Rodriguez asked the prosecutor if he could speak directly to his daughter's killer, Keith Wilson. When he was told only to address the court, Rodriguez said, "I want to ask him, where's my baby?" It was the only statement Rodriguez gave while sworn in by the court.

"It'll never be full conclusion until the body is found," said Assistant State Attorney Dan Feinberg. "But the judicial portion of the case is closed but for the appeals."

http://www.news-press.com/story/news/local/2017/12/11/keith-wilson-sentenced-life-prison-1999-killing-4-year-old-pilar-rodriguez/940752001/

Harding-Jones faces up to 30 years in prison when she is sentenced on Jan. 18. Her plea agreement, which stipulates that she was truthful in her testimony in Wilson's trial, is for one count of accessory after the fact, according to the state attorney's office.

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Babysitter of murderer toddler sentenced to house arrest

http://www.nbc-2.com/story/37297117/babysitter-of-murderer-toddler-sentenced-to-house-arrest

The babysitter for a murdered three-year-old girl in Charlotte County was sentenced to two years house arrest and eight years probation.

Melissa Harding-Jones, then Melissa Cooper, was Pilar Rodriguez's babysitter and then-girlfriend of Keith Wilson, who was found guilty of the toddler's murder.

 

[YaYa_521]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
NamUs #MP6585
Pilar Rodriguez
Circumstances of Disappearance - Pilar was last seen in the company of a female babysitter. The babysitter has been located in Wisconsin but the child is still missing. Pilar has a red birthmark on her forehead, between her eyebrows.