History of the Brooks Case
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del.icio.usJune 17, 2006: Girl was sweet, studious, 'wise beyond her years'
BY ROY WENZL
The Wichita Eagle
At Chelsea Brooks' house on Friday, people stood in the yard hugging one another. One woman held a baby; young women cried; three young men shooed away strangers and reporters.
"It's too soon for the family to talk today," one man said. "Come back tomorrow."
Several miles to the east, a friend of Chelsea's named Ciana Turner was baby-sitting little kids. She wondered what was going on at Chelsea's house. She wondered how they took the news there.
Ciana is 14, and remembers her close friend as a sweet girl who felt deep embarrassment at getting pregnant nine months ago at the age of 14. A mistake made with a boyfriend, Ciana said.
It makes no sense that she's been murdered, Ciana said.
In recent months, Ciana said, other girls would come up to Chelsea in the hallways at Allison Middle School and ask about her pregnancy. It seemed like such a novelty and such a wonder to these girls that Ciana heard one or two of them remark to Chelsea that maybe they ought to get pregnant too. But Chelsea looked downcast about it.
" 'This is not anything I'm proud of,' " Ciana said Chelsea told the other girls. " 'This is not something you want. I mean, I'm 14 years old and I'm pregnant.' "
Nevertheless, Ciana said Chelsea told her, she planned to have the baby and raise it with the help of her family.
She was a sweet person who cared very much about everyone's feelings, Ciana said. The guys at Allison were always hitting on her, she was so pretty; but there was more to her than looks. She read books, got good grades, played basketball, served as manager of the girls volleyball team at Allison, went to the River Festival every year, and went to Skate South every chance she got. She loved to skate.
"She was wise beyond her years," Ciana said. "People who didn't know her always thought she was older than she was because of the way she acted."
In spite of the interruption that motherhood would cause, Chelsea had told Ciana that she planned to finish school. Ciana will go to East High in the coming school year; Chelsea had planned to go to North High. Chelsea wanted to go to college.
They were going to stay in touch.
The last time they talked, Chelsea told her how excited she was about her upcoming baby shower.
Ciana and her mom tried to call Chelsea the other day, after they heard from a mutual friend that something was wrong. When Chelsea's mom came to the phone she wanted to know whether Ciana had seen or heard anything of her.
She said Chelsea was missing.