Little Lilly Everett’s ordeal is finally over. The Sunrise, Florida toddler was the focus of a yearlong search after her mother, Megan Everett, skipped town rather than turn her over to her father, Robert Baumann, per a joint-custody agreement. She left town because she didn’t want Lilly to go to daycare or learn about black history. Earlier this afternoon, less than 24 hours after her story was profiled on national television, sheriff’s deputies in north Florida saved Lilly and took her mother into custody after being tipped off by Everett’s landlady.
Lilly’s story aired on last night’s edition of CNN’s “The Hunt With John Walsh.” Earlier today, a shocking call came in from a woman in Palatka, roughly halfway between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach. The woman said that she believed that one of her tenants was Megan Everett, who had apparently rented a house from her just outside Palatka and was living under an assumed name. CNN immediately alerted the FBI, who in turn got in touch with Putnam County deputies.
When deputies arrived, they spotted Lilly inside the house with Everett. Lilly, whom the landlady had known as “Mary,” was quickly saved, while Everett was taken into custody without incident. Considering that Everett was turned into a fanatical Second Amendment absolutist by her boyfriend, Carlos Lesters, this was the best possible ending.
Baumann told the (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel that he was at work when he got a call notifying him that Lilly was about to be rescued. Roughly 20 minutes later, they called him back to tell him that Everett was in jail and Lilly had been saved. As I write this, Baumann is making the 280-mile drive from his home in Davie to Palatka to be reunited with his daughter, who has spent the day with a victim’s advocate.
Everett was booked into the Putnam County jail on federal charges of flight across state lines to avoid prosecution, as well as state charges of kidnapping, interference with custody and concealing a minor contrary to a court order. She will likely be extradited to Broward County sometime this week.
Given what we know about this case, I have to hope that if and when this case goes to trial, the judge seriously considers banning Everett from any contact with Lilly for a very long time. According to an article that ran last year in New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Lilly spent almost two years in a house that was not carpeted or babyproofed. Everett and Lesters also put Lilly in situations where she was within frighteningly easy reach of guns and ammo, and flouted court orders not to take her to events with a Confederate nostalgia group. According to Baumann, Lilly was scared of loud noises and didn’t like to be held as much as a normal infant girl would want to be held.
Credit: AATTP.
Even though this situation screamed in capital letters that Everett was an unfit mother, a circuit court judge awarded Baumann and Everett joint custody last year. That judge was fired by Broward County voters last summer, in large part due to this egregious blunder. One can hope that Lilly was saved in time for Baumann to help undo the damage. I’m no psychologist, but if Everett is allowed any sort of contact with Lilly before Lilly gets into her teen years, the system will have failed her again. I admit to taking this a little personally, since I was snowed into marrying a woman who hid her past history of abusing her own kids.
An important question needs to be answered in this case and soon–who helped Everett flee, and subsequently helped her while she was on the run with Lilly? For now, police don’t believe Lesters helped Everett in any way, but are certain that someone did help her flee. Lilly’s grandmother, Pam Everett, who has supported Baumann’s efforts to get Lilly back, told me last week that she’s certain that somebody–or a whole lot of somebodies–helped Megan while she was on the run. After all, Pam said, “you can’t live with a toddler for free.”
The FBI and Florida officials need to throw the library at anyone and everyone who helped Megan Everett in any way over the last year. The signal needs to go out–if you even think about helping someone kidnap a child, you will pay and pay dearly. What happened to Lilly over this past year was unacceptable and cannot be repeated again. Period, full stop.
