Beth Shelburne
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And then how did your daughter get wrapped up in the case?
I got to tell you everything because I'm not a liar, so I got to tell you the truth.
Rosa begins by going way back to the first time she and Yolanda were separated, when Rosa was arrested and charged with drug possession.
And I ended up catching a case going to Tutwiler.
Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women is the only maximum security women's prison in Alabama.
Rosa pleaded guilty and was sent there for three years.
During this time, eight-year-old Yolanda went to live with Rosa's mother in Selma.
When Rosa was released in 1991, Yolanda told her that she'd been sexually abused by a neighbor.
My mom would have him to come over and help her with her homework, and he molested her.
So when I got back, mentally, she was all messed up.
And it was a rock between a hard place because my mother said it didn't happen.
When she's 14 years old, Yolanda is hospitalized after attempting suicide and receives a few months of counseling.
And then the next year, when she's 15 years old, Yolanda officially becomes a ward of the state, living full-time in foster care and group homes.
The state is supposed to be in charge of her care, but according to an assessment ordered by a county social worker, they don't know where she is for several months that summer.
On the night of Hardy's murder, Yolanda is staying with a friend at the apartment where Taforest Johnson and Ardragus Ford pick her up around 2 in the morning.
A few hours later, police stop them at the Super 8 Motel and tell them they're looking into the murder of a police officer.
So when I talked to her the next day, I was employed at Adamson Ford.