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| Wendy Wood Holland, left, is lead out of the courtroom after she was found guilty on of sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual torture and child endangerment at Baldwin County Circuit Court, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, in Bay Minette, Ala. Holland was convicted on felony charges as member of a family sex ring that abused children for years. She was among 11 people arrested following the disappearance of her 19-year-old niece Brittney Wood in 2012. |
BAY MINETTE, Ala.
(AP) -- The conviction Wednesday of an Alabama woman accused of
being part of an incestuous sex ring provided graphic evidence about
horrendous child molestation, but it didn't answer a baffling question:
What happened to a young victim who is missing and presumed dead?
Jurors
took two hours to convict Wendy Wood Holland, 35, of sodomy, sexual
abuse, sexual torture and child endangerment. She showed no emotion when
the verdict was read. Prosecutors say Holland faces at least 20 years
in prison and could get a life sentence.
Witnesses
heard two days of testimony in her trial that didn't give any clues
about the whereabouts of her 19-year-old niece Brittney Wood.
Wood
was last seen with Holland's husband, Donnie, in 2012, and 11 people
have since been arrested on sex-related charges. That includes Wendy
Holland, on trial on charges of sexually abusing another underage
relative.
Authorities said Wood could provide
important evidence about sexual crimes by her adult relatives if only
they could find her alive. But searches and two years of investigation
have failed to turn up any sign of her.
Police believe Wood is dead,
possibly killed in the days before the case went public.
Following the disappearance, Holland was charged with sexual abuse, sodomy, sexual torture and child endangerment.
Donnie
Holland was under investigation as the leader of the alleged sex ring
at the time of Wood's disappearance, and he died days later of what
authorities ruled was a self-inflicted gunshot.
Prosecutors
told jurors during closing arguments that Wendy Holland, her late
husband and others were monsters who subjected their own children and
others to perversions that were almost too depraved to understand, with
parents and in-laws using their own young relatives for sex.
Holland
used sex toys and other forms of stimulation to groom the alleged
victim for sex with adults at an age children typically are watching
"Sesame Street" and learning to color, prosecution witnesses told the
jury.
"You have heard testimony over the last
two days that no one wants to believe," prosecutor Nicki Patterson said
in closing arguments. "We want to give family the benefit of the doubt."
But
defense attorney Mitzi Johnson-Theodoro argued that the alleged victim,
two other relatives who pleaded guilty to sex charges and a jailhouse
friend of Holland were lying when they portrayed her as a serial child
abuser.
She said Holland would appeal the verdict.
"This is the beginning of a very long process. This is just the first step," she said.
Neighbors
didn't see pornography or sex toys in Holland's home, and prosecutors
have no physical evidence, Johnson-Theodoro told jurors. Holland is a
loving person who took her own kids trick-or-treating and worked as a
certified nursing assistant at a state nursing home for veterans, she
said.
"They want you to believe that a woman who cared for the elderly abused children?" Johnson-Theodor said in closing arguments.
The trial, though, was all about Brittney Wood for Christin Huffman, a friend of the missing teen.
Testimony
showed Wood was part of at least one family sexual encounter involving
Holland, three other adults and two children, but the fact that no one
has seen the teen since before the case broke in 2012 wasn't mentioned
to jurors.
Seated in the court and wearing a
T-shirt decorated with Wood's photo, Huffman dabbed at her eyes as
attorneys laid out details of generations of incest allegations
involving her friend's family.
"To me the
whole thing is about her," Huffman, 21, said outside court. "There's no
way anyone could look at it and say it's not."
Wood's older brother and an uncle have pleaded guilty and testified against Holland, and her mother faces sex charges.
Holland was the second person to stand trial in the case. Family friend Billy Brownlee was convicted in October.
Prosecutor Patterson said authorities believe Holland's conviction could prompt more.
"I hope this will clear a logjam," she said.
