SHATTERED PARADISE

SHATTERED PARADISE

Where are you, Little Pilar?

????

The year was 1999 and we just moved into our new home in Punta Gorda, Florida. Just, what so many deem as a little piece of paradise. Beautiful weather, sunny skies, and awesome, swaying palms.

What could possibly go wrong!

Basically, for us, nothing. What shattered our piece of paradise didn’t affect us directly but still had an impact on lives. That “impact” took place in South Punta Gorda, less than ten miles from where I live.

???

A cute little four-year old girl went missing! What happened was nothing short of a nightmare for her loving father.

???

Marco Rodriguez was a hard-working, respectible dad who, due to privacy issues, had full custody of his little girl, Pilar. They lived in a small house in Hollywood, Florida.

Because of his employment, he enlisted the aid of a babysitter, Melissa Harding-Jones (nee Cooper).

On January 30, 1999, Harding-Jones asked Marco Rodriguez, since he worked long hours, for permission to take his daughter with her on a 135-mile trip to Punta Gorda where she and her boyfriend, planned a two-week vacation.

Since Mr. Rodriguez never had a negative issue with Harding-Jones, he allowed the vacation to take place.

Things were about to change.

According to Harding-Jones, her former boyfriend, Kieth Wilson had accompanied them on the long drive.

Harding-Jones said she planned on spending time with Wilson at the Trail Apartments, located in Punta where she could still babysit Pilar and at the same time, rekindle the relationship with Wilson.

She thought it was a win-win situation.

Unfortuatley, for Marco, it was a lose-lose situation. He never saw his daughter again.

After the two week time period elapsed and Harding-Jones never returned with Pilar, Marco notified the police who began an investigation.

When the authorities arrived at the Trail Apartments in Punta Gorda around February 22, 1999, they found Harding-Jones and Wilson were still there but also, found no evidence of Pilar. The little girl and whatever she had with her were gone!

While being questioned, Harding-Jones and Wilson said that Pilar’s father, Marco had already picked up his little girl and were long gone.

After investigating Marco, the police found no evidence that he was anywhere near Punta Gorda on or around the time of his daughter's disappearance.

The hunt for little Pilar was taking on a new frenzy. Where could she be? Did she wander off? If so, why wasn’t her disappearance reported?

The investigation took on a life of it’s own with the entire community praying for her quick and safe return.

They questioned Harding-Jones who said she had a medical emergency and was taken to the hospital. When she returned to the apartment, Pilar was gone!

Wilson blamed Harding-Jones saying she left with the child but arrived back alone.

With no evidence to prove wrong-doing, Harding-Jones and Wilson were allowed to leave Punta Gorda, HOWEVER ..

With periodic interviews, and the on-going investigation, fingers began pointing.

Harding-Jones said that Wilson punched Pilar hard enough to knock her into a wall. The child turned blue and began convulsing. Wilson refused to get the child medical attention and after the child stopped breathing, he put her body in a trash bag and left the aparment for about forty-five minutes. When he returned, the trash bag and Pilar’s body were gone.

Harding-Jones said she didn’t notify the police because she was afrad Wilson might do the same to her.

During the investigaton, a realtive of Wilson’s testitied that he had been speaking with Wilson and noticed what appeared to be the small foot of a child peeking out from under a blanket in the bed of Wilson’s truck. Again, nothing was reported.

The question remained: if Wilson placed Pilar’s body in a trash bag, how could his friend have seen a little foot sticking out from under a blanket? The question was never successfully answered. But, it pointed a finger directly at Wilson.

It was also noted that witnesses came forward saying that Wilson made comments about no one could ever be found guilty without a body and that alligators would eat anything.

That caused the nearby Preacher’s Lake, that sat within a forty-five minute round-trip drive, that is known to be inhabited by alligators to be drained. Unspecified biological matter was discovered but the results were enough to determine they belonged to Pilar.

The case of a missing child was now a homicide investigation.

In the lake, several child-size articles of clothing were found that belonged to Pilar. Those items included her favorite Winnie-the-Pooh t-shirt. Unfortunately, nothing else belonging to Pilar was ever discovered.

Wilson, because of Harding-Jones’ testimony was now considered the prime suspect but since Harding-Jones had the temporary custody of Pilar, it was she who was charged with aggravated manslaughter, proclaiming that she failed to protect the child from injury caused by another.

She pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact and agreed to testify against Wilson who was found in Kentucy, arrested, and brought back to Florida to stand trial. He was charged with first-degree murder.

Due to their conflicting stories, Wilson was found guilty of Second Degree Murder after a two-hour jury deliberation and now faces life in prison.

Harding-Jones, while pleading guilty, because of her testimony against Wilson, was was sentenced to up-to thirty years due to being an “accessory after the fact.”

It is now the year 2024.

To the sadness and horror Marco faces each day at the loss of his little girl, it’s been compounded daily because the body of little Pilar Rodriguez has never been found.