History of the Brooks Case
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del.icio.usJune 25, 2006: A smart, smiling girl with a secret
BY SUZANNE PEREZ TOBIAS
The Wichita Eagle
Just four years ago, Chelsea Brooks was riding roller coasters and singing in the rain.
On a trip to Silver Dollar City in Branson, Mo., she and her Girl Scout buddies didn't let a storm keep them off the rides - even the American Plunge log flume.
"I can still see her, sopping wet, having the time of her life," said Rachel Kessler, her former scout leader.
When Kessler learned that Chelsea, 14 and pregnant, had been killed in what prosecutors say was a murder-for-hire scheme, she was shocked.
"Chelsea was very bright, very kind-hearted. She never wanted anyone to be sad," Kessler said. "She wasn't someone you'd think this would ever happen to."
But at some point, the smart, funny, strong-willed girl fell in love with a man six years her senior, Elgin "Ray-Ray" Robinson Jr. And prosecutors say her adolescent affair proved fatal.
A classroom leader
Chelsea attended Cleaveland Traditional Magnet School in southwest Wichita, an elementary school that features a "back-to-basics" curriculum.
Most parents who choose Cleaveland do so for its rigorous academics, strict discipline and standardized dress code. The school's mission statement emphasizes values such as respect, integrity and perseverance.
Amanda Kingrey, Chelsea's fourth-grade teacher, said Chelsea fit in well at the school.
"There was rarely a moment that went by that she was not smiling," Kingrey said. "She was very bright, confident and a leader in the classroom."
Chelsea's parents, Darren and Terri Brooks, declined to comment for this story. Kessler, the Girl Scout leader, said they were active, involved parents.
"They drove on field trips. We took the girls ice skating, roller skating, all those things," she said. "They were supportive. They weren't like those parents you never see."
During a fifth-grade project to study how government works, Chelsea was elected vice president. She had to make sure bills were written correctly and moved from one congressional house to the other.
"She took her job very seriously," said Lee Menninga, her fifth-grade teacher. "Her leadership and charisma were everyday traits for Chelsea."
During elementary school, Chelsea befriended a girl who friends say was Robinson's sister. The girls were classmates and Girl Scout buddies and loved to play basketball, roller-skate and attend sleepovers.
Friends say Chelsea likely met Robinson through his sister, though no one could say when their relationship began.
A crush on a coach
Kali McCulloch met Chelsea in sixth grade, when they started middle school at Allison Traditional Magnet.
The girls played basketball together at the South YMCA. Robinson was one of their coaches, she said.
"She was pretty open about how she felt about him," said Kali, 13. "She would always say, 'He's hot,' and stuff like that."
Beginning in seventh grade, Chelsea talked about Robinson a lot, Kali said. Chelsea didn't divulge many details, but friends could tell the two were involved.
"This year it was kind of on-and-off," Kali said. "She'd say she hated him, she couldn't stand him. And then it would be, 'I love him to death, and I'll do anything for him.' "
Shortly after Christmas, Chelsea pulled four friends aside during third-ho ur math class and told them she was pregnant.
"She said, 'You guys, I'm pregnant, and it's with Ray,' " said Victoria Hamm, 14. "I think we all were pretty surprised."
Chelsea talked about Robinson sometimes and kept pictures of him in her locker, Victoria said. But Chelsea never said where or how often the two would meet.
Mario Ramos, 14, said he and his cousin, Shauna Chauncey, were among Chelsea's best friends. They ate lunch together every day at Allison.
Mario said he was concerned when Chelsea became pregnant, but he said he tried to be supportive because she was his friend. He met Robinson once at a South High School football game, he said, but didn't really know him.
Shauna said she "tried to like him (Robinson) and give him a chance, because Chelsea really, really liked him."
But then, she said, "we would hear her tell us what he did and said, and I didn't like him anymore... . He was telling her not to tell anybody, because he was going to go to jail."
Mario said he told Chelsea she was "crazy" for being involved with someone older. Chelsea would just laugh, he said.
More about Robinson
Robinson dropped out of Southeast High School in April 2002 at age 16, according to records from the Wichita school district.
He is charged with capital murder, aggravated kidnapping and two counts of rape - he is accused of having sex with Chelsea before she turned 14. Two others - Theodore G. Burnett, 49, and Everett Gentry, 17 - also are charged with kidnapping and capital murder.
Robinson's phone number is listed on his financial affidavit for a court-ap pointed attorney. When The Eagle called the number, a message said: "Hi. You've reached Elgin Robinson at VIP Entertainment. I'm not able to answer your call right now. Leave me a name and number and I'll get back with you as soon as possible."
Tyrone Crawford, a member of the rap group MainFrame, said Robinson was a DJ for VIP Entertainment. Crawford said he wasn't familiar with everything Robinson did or whether Robinson owned the company or just worked for it. Crawford said he thought the company mostly provided music for wedding receptions and high school parties.
VIP Entertainment is not an incorporated company, according to records from the secretary of state's office. Directory assistance did not have a listing for the company.
His grandmother, Pauline Lancaster, and mother, Irene, declined to comment when reached at the grandmother's home.
Chelsea's confidante
One of the adults Chelsea talked to about her pregnancy was Tamara Gallatin , her language arts teacher and Allison Middle School's volleyball coach.
Gallatin, whose mother was barely 15 when she was born, said she and Chelsea "really bonded" over the past several months. They talked about the baby - a girl whom Chelsea planned to name Alexa Lynn - and how Chelsea could manage to graduate and go on to college.
"We talked about still making good choices - what she needed to do to take care of herself and still be a good mom," Gallatin said.
But Chelsea never talked about the baby's father, and Gallatin didn't press the issue.
"It was like this thing she kept hidden from all of us," Gallatin said. "I know Chelsea didn't feel that she could freely tell me much about the father... . I just really didn't know she was still in contact with him."
On June 10, the day after Chelsea disappeared from Skate South, where she had gone with friends, Chelsea's mom called Gallatin to see if the teacher had heard from her daughter.
She hadn't. But Gallatin quickly called several of Chelsea's friends and posted a plea on her Internet Xanga blog:
"You have been making good decisions for yourself, so I hope you will again right now," Gallatin wrote. "I'm not mad, I'm not going to lecture you, I just want to know that you are OK. That baby will be here soon, and you need to get home."
Five days later, workers discovered Chelsea's partially buried body near a wheat field in Butler County. She had been strangled.
On Friday, less than a month after her eighth-grade promotion ceremony, friends and family members gathered at a funeral service for Chelsea and her unborn daughter.
'She walked with pride'
Last week, friends recalled how, at first, Chelsea didn't want to walk across the stage for the middle school ceremony. She was embarrassed about the pregnancy and didn't want people whispering or talking about her, Mario said.
But "she changed her mind," he said. "She walked down the stage with pride, and everybody clapped for her."
Gallatin, the teacher, said she still has the car seat she planned to give Chelsea at her baby shower last weekend. She says she still can't believe Chelsea is dead.
"I think this has been an eye-opener for everybody - students, teachers, parents," she said. "She was going through this thing that she probably thought nobody understood... . She had lots of friends, but apparently no one knew what was really happening."
Contributing: Deb Gruver and Hurst Laviana of The Eagle