When a Child Dies and Suspicion Lives

Marie Wu says she’s got a pretty good idea how John and Patsy Ramsey feel. She’s felt the stares from strangers in the grocery store and, even more obviously, picked up vibes from sheriff’s investigators. She knows that some people believe that she and/or her husband, Feilong, killed her 2-year-old son last year.

The only difference is that the Ramsey case went national immediately, while for the Wus the spotlight hasn’t extended beyond south Orange County, where the crime occurred.

In both cases, though, the question persists of whether a set of parents had anything to do with their child’s death.

“I’m one of those people myself,” a soft-spoken and somber Marie Wu said Thursday. “To me, there’s nothing worse than any crime against a child.”

Although no charges have been filed in the unsolved Christmas night murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado, many people both in and out of law enforcement circles believe John and Patsy Ramsey killed their daughter. The case still generates coverage in the tabloid press and the occasional TV talk show.

The body of Cecil “C.T.” Turner, Marie Wu’s son by a previous marriage, was found Aug. 13, 1996, at the bottom of a steep slope in Mission Viejo. Nude when found, he had been suffocated but showed no other signs of injury. He was found several hundred yards from the Wus’ apartment, and the Wus said the toddler had wandered off while his mother slept and his stepfather was jogging.

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But while the Ramseys have for the most part gone undercover, the Wus have taken a more aggressive stance. They have sued the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for defamation and civil rights violations, claiming that investigators all but branded them as murder suspects.

A Sheriff’s Department spokesman says the Wus were not so identified, but in an affidavit read in court Wednesday as part of pretrial proceedings, it was clear the Wus were the prime suspects from the outset.

In our conversation Thursday, Marie Wu described what it’s like to be considered the leading suspect in your child’s death: “It just crushes you inside,” she said. “People react to you. In our particular situation, the way we were portrayed, it ruined our lives.”

That prompted the lawsuit, for which no trial date has been set. The Wus’ attorney says the Sheriff’s Department has “stonewalled” his attempts to get information from the early days of the investigation. I couldn’t reach the department’s attorney, and department spokesman Lt. Ron Wilkerson said he couldn’t discuss the lawsuit.

Marie Wu said she wasn’t necessarily upset that she and Feilong were questioned by investigators when her son’s body was found.

“I just naturally assumed the parents would have to be examined to some level,” she said. “I think any intelligent person already knows that the most logical place to begin the investigation is with the caregivers. But we were expecting that all leads would be followed at the same time we were being looked at.”

With the Sheriff’s Department not talking, it’s hard to know what other leads, if any, it followed. But in the affidavit read in court Wednesday, an investigator was quoted as saying the Wus were suspected for various reasons, including at least one seemingly contradictory statement. Other reasons weren’t cited specifically. In fact, the couple would have been charged, according to the investigator’s statement, except that “there is insufficient evidence to determine which of the two committed the crime.”

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The Ramseys, while considered to have received some special privileges from law enforcement, also have been identified as suspects in the death of their daughter. About them, Marie Wu said, “I do have sympathy with them. I have sympathy with any parent who has lost a child. Their case has similarities, because the children were young and because of the attitude of the police for whatever reason. . . . But from what I know or have followed, the cases are extremely different.”

The Wus, now residing in Laguna Niguel, believe the case will be solved.

“I’m still devastated from the loss of my son, and my husband and I never really have been given a chance to properly grieve . . . “ Marie said, blaming the “attitude” of the Sheriff’s Department. The case has not cost the couple any old friends, she said, adding that they have made new ones since.

I think it’s interesting and, perhaps, revealing that, unlike the Ramseys, the Wus have pressed the attack by filing a suit.

“We had no choice,” Marie said. “I wouldn’t say we would have satisfaction [from winning], no. We just want to be able to grieve for our son, and we would like to have the killer off the street and we would have liked to have had our rights respected like anyone else.”

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to dana.parsons@latimes.com