BAY MINETTE, Ala. – The conviction Wednesday of an Alabama woman accused of being part of an incestuous sex ring provided graphic evidence about horrendous child molestation, but it didn’t answer a baffling question: What happened to a young victim who is missing and presumed dead?
Alabama woman convicted in children sex abuse ring
jurors took two hours to convict Wendy Wood Holland, 35, of sodomy, sexual abuse, sexual torture and child endangerment. She showed no emotion when the verdict was read. Prosecutors say Holland faces at least 20 years in prison and could get a life sentence.
Witnesses heard two days of testimony in her trial that didn’t give any clues about the whereabouts of her 19-year-old niece Brittney Wood.
Wood was last seen with Holland’s husband, Donnie, in 2012, and 11 people have since been arrested on sex-related charges. That includes Wendy Holland, on trial on charges of sexually abusing another underage relative.
Prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments that Wendy Holland, her late husband and others were monsters who subjected their own children and others to perversions that were almost too depraved to understand, with parents and in-laws using their own young relatives for sex.
Holland used sex toys and other forms of stimulation to groom the alleged victim for sex with adults at an age children typically are watching “Sesame Street” and learning to color, prosecution witnesses told the jury
Woman sentenced to 219 years in prison in sex ring case
Wendy Wood Holland, 35, appears in the Baldwin County Circuit Court in Bay Minette, Alabama, on Dec. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Wendy Holland, 35, showed no emotion as the judge condemned her to what amounts to a life sentence. She must serve at least 50 years in prison before parole consideration, a prosecutor said.
Jurors convicted the woman of sodomy, sexual abuse and other charges last month.
Another defendant, William Brownlee, got a 20-year prison sentence. Brownlee, 50, was convicted of sodomy and sexual abuse in the fall.
The two were among 11 people charged with sex crimes following the disappearance in 2012 of a suspected victim of the ring, 19-year-old Brittney Wood. She remains missing and is presumed dead.
Baldwin Council Circuit Judge Jody Bishop gave both Holland and Brownlee the maximum sentence and said each deserved more time. Each still faces additional charges involving other alleged victims.
In a letter read in court, the underage female victim in both cases said years of abuse left her traumatized. She has a hard time trusting anyone, gets angry easily and rarely feels safe.
"I was a little girl being held down and raped," wrote the victim, who was in court.
Holland is the widow of the alleged leader of the group, Donnie Holland, who was Brittney Wood's uncle. The teen went missing around the time Holland was found with a gunshot to the head; his death was later ruled a suicide.
Wendy and Donnie Holland's 22-year-old son Donald Paul Holland Jr. - charged with incest, rape and sexual abuse as another alleged participant in the ring - appeared before the judge in a closed hearing after his mother's sentencing.
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