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Frysinger's other victim tells story of abuse
By Karen M Hale   
Rated "PG13" by the Author.
Last edited: Monday, June 12, 2006
Posted: Monday, August 01, 2005

Interview of Karen M Hale by Poteau Daily News Reporter, Regina Smith.

Picture: Wanda Mae Taylor Frysinger and Cameron Harold Frysinger in Texas, early '80's.

If you would like to interview Hale click the contact author button to your left or send inquires to sandyzstormATyahoo.com

By Regina Smith, News Reporter Poteau Daily NewsPoteau, Oklahoma

The state Pardon and Parole Board announced this week that Cameron H. Frysinger has been denied parole by the board.Frysinger was convicted of first degree murder and shooting with intent to kill for the 1983 attack which left a two-year-old Heavener child dead and partially paralyzed her mother.

However, Lacy and Joy Richey were not the only victims of that horrendous day in late April. Karen Wilkinson, is a reporter/photographer and circulation manager for a weekly newspaper in Texas, but on that day in 1983 she was the scared 11-year-old girl traveling with her mom and step-dad when they attempted to rob Joy Richey.

She says that she first met Cameron Frysinger when she was five-years-old, and from then until the age of 12 lived in his cruel and paranoid world. Karen says that Frysinger was an abusive man and although he never physically harmed her the mental abuse and neglect left their mark.

Wilkinson said she vividly remembers her experiences including the three years she said the family spent on the road. She said the three of them lived a transient lifestyle with little to no money and that as a child she didn't realize that kind of lifestyle wasn't normal.

"Over the years as I've grown older and analyzed things more. I really think there had to be drugs involved. I don't see how a sane person could do the things that they did and live the way that they did," she said in a recent interview.

Karen said that as a child she doesn't recall seeing drugs.All that came to an end on April 28, 1983.Karen was never asked to testify in the case, because Frysinger and her mother Wanda Taylor Frysinger, both pleaded guilty to the crimes they faced.

However, the young woman recalls the day vividly."We didn't pick the house randomly. We saw them (Lacy and Joy Richey) leave that morning," Karen said.She says the family hadn't eaten in days and stayed in the home all day until Joy Richey and her daughter returned."I didn't know what was going to happen. I was just happy to have food. I remember drinking Nestle's Quick all day," she said.

Wilkinson was sent out of the room when the actual crimes were committed but it is a moment that haunts her and changed her life forever.Newspaper accounts from 1983 stated that the Frysinger's were apprehended because a woman living in the Arkansas town they were camped near saw Karen and thought she didn't belong there so she called police.

Karen said the town was predominantly black and the woman thought she was a runaway."I'm sure I looked bad. My hair hadn't been brushed in days and I must have stunk," Wilkinson said.

She had been sent to the store with less than 90 cents, which she said was all the family had after being on the run for approximately a week, to buy food. It was the day before her twelfth birthday.

Karen said they family had been hiding in a small clearing near the railroad tracks when the police came. Frysinger was a short distance away trying to fish and Wilkinson said he had a gun with him, but he didn't give the officers any trouble.Of course at the time the officers didn't know that the Frysinger's were wanted for murder.

Wilkinson said that when the family was first taken to the police department they were never separated. She said that later when it was just her and her mother an officer brought in Kentucky Fried Chicken."I saw the food and told them everything," she said. "I was just so hungry."

Wilkinson said she was then put in a jail cell by herself all night long. She said it was a very traumatic experience for her.

When the Frysinger's were brought back to LeFlore County to face the charges, Karen came here, too. She was in the custody of the state.While here she came in contact with a number of people whose kindness she credits with helping to begin the very long road to healing.She said Russell Smith and Susan Minor "her two angels" both worked for the Department of Human Services. Both spent time with her when she was in LeFlore County following the murder. She credits their kindness with her survival. Karen said she still has contact with Smith, who became her permanent case worker, but has been unable to get in touch with Minor.

She said she also has good memories of the foster family she stayed with in Shady Point for a time, although she last heard from them when she received a graduation present from them in 1989.

Karen became a ward of the state and lived with her grandparents until her marriage shortly after high school.She has asked that her last name and hometown remain anonymous, because she, her husband and their three children are happy and she still fears for her life if Frysinger were to be released from prison.

She is in the process of writing a non-fiction self help book about her life and what she learned from her experiences. She began researching for the book in 1999.

Wilkinson does not have a relationship with her mother who pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was released in 1991. "Many people have said that she was a victim too, but I don't believe that. She was right there with him. People don't believe that someone like her would do the things that she did," said Wilkinson.She says that in many instances her mother encouraged and was the cause of Frysinger's behavior."She's very shy and captivating, almost child-like, but in my mind she was just as guilty as him," Wilkinson said.

Because she takes part in the victim's protection act of 1991 the correctional system notifies Wilkinson of Frysinger's progress, if he should ever escape she will be notified, and when he was eligible for parole she was contacted.

Wilkinson said she was glad he was not released."I'm relieved. I don't feel like he should have the privilege of walking the streets, because Lacy can't. He took away her future and her mother's also," Karen said.She said that in some ways Frysinger took a lot from her too."What always haunted me was that this man had complete control over my life and to try to break free from him was beyond comprehension. He was insane," she said. "I was always certain that if I'd tried to escape him he would come and find me."

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