Slain toddler's mom blames ex-husband

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Beverly Kelly sobbed uncontrollably yesterday as she recounted the night 16 years ago when her daughter died.

Kelly was on the witness stand in the trial of her ex-husband, Vern E. King, who is charged with murdering her 22-month-old daughter, Kareatha Gray. At one point during her testimony, Kelly cried out: "I miss my baby. I will always love my baby. I don't know why he did that to my baby."

That drew an immediate objection from Deputy Public Defender Gary Oakes, who asked Circuit Judge Karen Ahn to strike that statement from the record. The jury was ushered out of the courtroom and Kelly was given time to compose herself.

But as she was escorted from the courtroom, Kelly walked by King and shouted: "You're never going to be free. It's not fair."

The prosecution rested its case yesterday and the trial will resume tomorrow.

King's defense is that he was a loving stepfather and he did not abuse the girl.

Kelly testified that the evening of May 8, 1985, began like many others, with her and King and Kareatha having dinner. Kelly said she left the 'Aiea home for about an hour to shop for maternity clothes and returned to find her daughter in bed.

"I leaned over and I was getting ready to kiss her, and I noticed some blood on her tongue and her eyes were cloudy, like she was about to cry, but her tears were frozen on her face," she said.

An ambulance was called and Kareatha was taken to Tripler Army Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. The city medical examiner could not pinpoint a cause of death and classified the case as "undetermined."

Soon after the couple returned home from the hospital, Kelly testified, King made a bizarre request.

"He asked me if I wanted to have sex, that it would make me forget about what happened," Kelly said. "I became real upset and said, 'I can't believe you want to do something like that after what had just happened.'"

Baby-sitter Wilma Hampton testified that Kareatha would cry anytime King picked her up.

Kelly and King divorced in April 1987.

In 1995, the case was reopened by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the focus shifted to King. The case was turned over to Honolulu prosecutors.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8025.