KACY SUE LUNSFORD - 3 yo (2010) - Medford OR

A little girl danced around a bubbling fountain
as about 50 people stood silently on the edges of Vogel Plaza, mourning
the loss of an almost 3-year-old child who will never again feel the
cool spray of water or the warmth of the sun.
"Listen," "Protect," "Justice," read the adults' signs.
Michelle Sauer had a permanent sign to
commemorate her grandchild, Kacy Sue Lunsford. Sauer's tattoo was inked
one day after Kacy died in a Portland hospital from critical brain
injuries she reportedly sustained in an assault by Benjamin James
George, 29, of the 2100 block of Crater Lake Avenue, Medford.
Sauer's son, Michael Duda, is Kacy's father. George
is the boyfriend of Kacy's mother. George remains jailed on $500,000
bail. He has been charged with first-degree assault.
Sauer wants justice for Kacy, she said.
"I want the police to go over this case with a fine-toothed comb," she said.
The winged heart tattooed on Sauer's right calf bears Kacy's name in the center. Below
the heart are Kacy's birth and death dates — 6/27/07 to 6/15/10.
"She wasn't even three years old yet," said Sauer.
"She was a beautiful little girl."
Kacy's death prompted Dee Anne Everson, executive director of United Way of
Jackson County, to organize Monday's event. We must all learn to listen
carefully for the sounds of child abuse, Everson said. At 4:15 p.m., the
one-hour silent vigil began. As the minutes slowly ticked by, the
temperature soared, sweat beaded on brows and cheeks reddened.
"What I thought about was that Kacy's family will
not be able to hear her anymore," said Everson. "We've got to do
something big to change this."
Most of the attendees were dressed in shades of blue, the color of ribbons that
promote child-abuse awareness month and foster-children month. Several
said they hoped their efforts will somehow protect the next child.
"It is important that we be here," said Pam
Bergreen, Jackson County Department of Human Services coordinator.
"Every child deserves to be treated as the most precious being. Child
abuse is simply devastating. And we can and must protect children from abuse."
Sometimes it is the people who are
supposed to love you best who perpetrate the worst forms of abuse, said
Robin Fusmer. Fusmer's sign was a single stark sentence that told her
personal story of child abuse: "My dad gave me to his friend for sex."
Fusmer and her husband, Derek, who have been
homeless themselves, give out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, clean
clothes and advice to runaway kids in Hawthorne Park on Wednesday afternoons.
"It's really hard to talk about
(the sexual abuse)," she said. "But that's why I help those kids in the park.
Eileen Hooper, 82, was one of the oldest
participants at Monday's event. Hooper has raised four children in
Medford, and is now raising two of her grandchildren, she said. Out for a
recent walk with her dog, Hooper said she witnessed a mother bird
pretend to have a broken wing. The bird was attempting to draw her and
her German Shepherd away from the nest, Hooper said.
"It's heartbreaking when you see animals doing a
better job of caring for their young than some humans," Hooper said.
It was Suzie Aguilar's 3-year old daughter, Ellie,
who was playing in the plaza water fountain. As she held her 1-year old
son, Armani, Aguilar watched her daughter closely, making sure the
dancing girl stayed within sight.
"Over here, please," she said. "Stay near."
"I can't imagine anything happening to a 3-year old," Aguilar said. "Or to any child."
Aguilar said she brought her husband and children to the event because she
understands what it is to be a child who is not listened to, who is scared, she said.
"I had kind of a rough childhood," Aguilar said. "There was domestic violence and alcoholism. I
was spanked really hard. Harder than any child should be hit."
Expressing disappointment with the attendance,
Aguilar said she had hoped to see the plaza filled with people
supporting children, she said.
"It makes me sad," Aguilar said. "I think it's just a hard thing for people to deal
with. I almost didn't come because I didn't know if I could handle it."

KDRV Staff
 
June 22, 2010
 
MEDFORD, Ore. - A man if facing murder charges in the death of a 2-year-old Medford girl.
 
A Jackson County grand jury indicted 29-year-old Benjamin George Tuesday. He faces charges of felony murder, murder by abuse and first-degree assault.
 
Kacy Sue Lunsford died June 12th at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland after suffering massive damage from brain trauma. George, her mother's boyfriend, was originally charged with first-degree assault three days before her death.
 
Police served a search warrant on George's apartment last Friday. George lived with Lunsford and her mother in the 2,100 block of Crater Lake Avenue in Medford.
 
Meanwhile, Lunsford's family has set up a memorial fund to help with funeral and medical costs. Anyone who wishes to help can stop by any Wells Fargo Bank to donate to the Kacy Sue Lunsford Memorial Fund.

By Amy Sienicki
 
June 25, 2010
 
MEDFORD, Ore. -- Due to overload, the Southern Oregon Public Defenders Office was forced to turn down the murder case of a Medford toddler this week, the first time its done so in 25 years.
 
PD Office Administrator Bert Putney asked a Jackson County judge Wednesday to delay the arraignment of Benjamin James George for three weeks because all of his attorneys qualified to represent clients in murder cases already have a pending case.
 
The 29-year-old George is facing charges of murder, murder by abuse and first-degree assault in the death of a 2-year-old Medford girl on June 15.
 
Putney says the office is only allowed to to have a state-contracted quota of four murder credits each year, but already has nine for 2010. Credits are a measure of attorney work-hours. Putney says this is the first time in three years the office has reached its credit quota for murder cases. He only allows his attorneys have one pending murder case at a time. He says each murder case can take anywhere from 500 to 1,500 hours of work.
 
Los Abogados, another consortium of local attorneys that has a contract with the Oregon Office of Public Defense Services, will take on the George case.
 
"I decided three or four weeks ago that if another murder came it was going to go to Los Abogados. It's a matter of sharing cases with the other provider in this area," said Bert Putney, administrator for Southern Oregon Public Defender Inc.
Los Abogados has a group of six attorneys.
 
On Tuesday, a Jackson County grand jury indicted George on murder charges in in the death of Kacy Sue Lunsford.
 
Lunsford died June 15th at Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland after suffering massive damage from brain trauma. George, her mother's boyfriend, was originally charged with first-degree assault three days before her death. George resided with Lunsford and her mother in the 2,100 block of Crater Lake Avenue in Medford.
 
His arraignment is scheduled for July 14th, where he is expected to enter a plea.
 
Lunsford's family has set up a memorial fund to help with funeral and medical costs. Anyone who wishes to help can stop by any Wells Fargo Bank to donate to the Kacy Sue Lunsford Memorial Fund.

A 230-pound man who killed his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter in a
brutal wrestling match in which he threw the child across a bed and into
a wall has been sentenced to life in prison.Benjamin James
George, 30, of Medford was sentenced Thursday after he was convicted of
murder by abuse in the death of Kacy Sue Lunsford, the Mail Tribune
reported.The girl died at a Portland hospital in June 2010, five days after the assault.Prosecutor
David Hoppe said previous episodes of abuse culminated in one night of
"ultimate wrestling moves" that left the 30-pound child with collapsed
lungs, lacerated liver, internal bleeding and massive head wounds.Kacy's family cried quietly during the hearing, but they made no statement in court, and left the building immediately."Hopefully the verdicts will bring a small measure of solace to Kacy's family," Hoppe said.Jackson
County Circuit Judge Lorenzo Mejia also sentenced George to 7 1/2 years
for assault, to run concurrently with the life sentence with no chance
of parole for 25 years.George showed no reaction and expressed no remorse during his sentencing.Murder
by abuse applies when a person, recklessly or with extreme indifference
to the value of human life, causes the death of a child younger than 14
through a pattern of abuse, torture or neglect.After an emotional three-day trial, Hoppe broke down during closing arguments as he discussed the assault.Hoppe
said there were seven previous incidents of abuse, when George had
pulled out patches of Kacy's hair, stepped on her and caused her to be
terrified of him.In the final assault, George had thrown Kacy
"like a piece of garbage" across a bed and into the bedroom wall, the
prosecutor said.The details came from six hours of taped interviews of George by police, Hoppe said."It's a murderer describing how he killed a child," he said.George's
defense attorney, Robert Abel, had argued that George was a victim of
genetic mental illness made worse by a traumatic childhood and
compounded by a problematic relationship with Kacy's mother, Michelle
Lunsford.The last witness, George's ex-wife, Amanda George, said
she tried to break off her relationship with him several times, but
George would become suicidal. He constantly accused her of infidelity
and eventually became abusive toward her and their two daughters,
punching holes in the wall, pushing the children and pulling their hair,
she said.She left him, but George continued to drive past her house and once tried to kick down the door, she said."I slept with knives and mace. Eventually I did purchase a gun," she said.
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/17/2956495/ore-man-guilty-in-wrestling-death.html#ixzz1PZMuoXDy