Who is Kelsey Smith-Briggs?
“This is Kelsey Briggs, the little girl who won our hearts and the one we tried so desperately to keep safe and happy. Please remember her when the next grandmother or family member comes to you. Her life had a purpose and we seek to find out exactly what it was. If it was only to give us love, and joy for two short years then she succeeded, however I feel it was more than that. My wish is that no other family feels the pain we are feeling right now.”–Kathie Briggs 10/13/05
Why tell her story?
After 10 months of documented abuse, including a broken collar bone, two broken legs, countless bruises, two-year-old Kelsey Smith-Briggs was murdered on October 11, 2005. She died of a blow to the stomach. Both her mother, Raye Dawn Smith, and step-father, Michael Porter, were home with her that day. Smith and Porter are both in prison for Enabling Child Abuse. No one has been convicted of her murder. The mistakes made in Kelsey Briggs' case have gotten national attention. Since her death, the little girl has become the face of child abuse in Oklahoma.