Her death still mangles her mother’s insides. But what's worse is knowing that she wasn't the first victim.
Eleven-year-old Ryan Harris was raped and beatten to death a decade ago near her Englewood home.
Her July 1998 murder made national headlines because two boys, ages 7 and 8, were initially arrested and charged with the crime. At that time, they were the youngest murder suspects in the United States.
Semen samples found in the girl's underwear, which were stuffed in her mouth, cleared them of the savage attack in September of that year.
Nine months after her death, Floyd Durr was charged with the crime. He was already in custody for allegedly raping three girls on separate occasions.
“It shouldn't have even been a second victim,” Sabrina Harris, Ryan’s mother, told the Defender.
Sabrina Harris, with the help of Dawn Valenti, a friend and member of the organization United For a Cause, started an online petition last month to help enact Ryan's Law.
The law calls for mandatory life sentences for first-time sex offenders.
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