The grandfather of the northern Iowa girl who went missing this July and was found days later, murdered, is outraged by comments Governor Tom Vilsack made yesterday (Monday) about the case. This summer, Vilsack reviewed five-years-worth of files kept by Department of Human Services social workers who investigated complaints about the child’s welfare. On Monday, Vilsack said the complaints came from family members who had “an ax to grind” and whose “credibility” was “a bit suspect.”
Richard Christie, Evelyn Miller’s grandfather, contacted Radio Iowa to rebut Vilsack’s comments. “I wanted everyone to know that our family certainly didn’t have an ax to grind nor should our credibility have been suspect,” Christie says. “Any of those reports that we filed were done with the full knowledge and sincere belief that Evelyn was indeed in danger in the household in which she was being raised.”
Christie says his family feels let down by the state social workers who investigated their complaints that came from Christie’s son and his wife. Christie says there “wasn’t any real hatred or animosity” between his son and Noel Miller, Evelyn’s mother. “But there certainly was a danger in the home and that’s what Andy and Lindsey were concerned about,” he says.
Christie hopes the D-H-S makes some changes as a result of Evelyn’s case, but until those changes are made, he warns that parents may take matters into their own hands. “Everybody should be on notice that parental kidnappings probably will increase as a result of D.H.S.’s inaction in other cases similar to Evelyn’s,” Christie says. Christie has a blog on the Internet about the case at evelynmillermemories.blogspot.com.