The Trail Went Cold - Episode 461 - Rilya Wilson

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

January 18, 2001. Miami, Florida. Geralyn Graham, the foster mother of four-year old Rilya Wilson, claims that a female caseworker from the Florida Department of Children and Families took Rilya from her residence for a medical evaluation, but never returned. Rilya is not officially reported missing until 15 months later, but the authorities become convinced that Geralyn fabricated her story and is personally responsible for Rilya’s disappearance. Geralyn is eventually charged with numerous crimes and receives a lengthy prison sentence after she is convicted of kidnapping and child abuse at her trial. Since the jury is unable to convict Geralyn of murder and Rilya’s remains are never found, there are a lot of unanswered questions about what actually happened. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore a heartbreaking and controversial missing children’s case which came about as the result of a major scandal within Florida’s foster care system. Special thanks to listener Jaclyn Collins for narrating the opening of this episode. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Miami-Dade County Police Department at (305) 418-7302. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Rilya_Wilson https://charleyproject.org/case/rilya-shenise-wilson https://www.newspapers.com/image-view/652361189/ https://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/18/fla.missing.girl/index.html https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna7210798 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/proving-murder-in-case-of-missing-girl/ https://www.tampabay.com/incoming/informer-testifies-caretaker-confessed-to-killing-rilya-wilson/1266933/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/25/woman-convicted-missing-girl/1865543/ https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/geralyn-graham-faces-sentencing-in-rilya-wilson-case/2015825/ https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/rilya-wilson “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	January 18, 2001, Miami, Florida.
0:04.3	Geraldine Graham, the foster mother of four-year-old Rillia Wilson, claims that a female caseworker
0:10.8	from the Florida Department of Children and Families took Rillia from her residence for a medical
0:15.9	evaluation, but never returned.
0:18.4	Rillia is not reported missing until 15 months later,
0:21.7	but the authorities become convinced that Jerylian fabricated her story
0:25.2	and is responsible for Rilia's disappearance.
0:28.3	Jerylian is eventually charged with numerous crimes
0:30.7	and is convicted of kidnapping and child abuse at her trial,
0:34.0	but she continues to deny any involvement
0:36.2	and no trace of Rrelia is ever found.
0:39.1	After that, the trail went cold.
1:22.5	The I'm not I'm I'm I'm and I'm I'm and I'm and and I'm and I'm and I'm and I'm The Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of The Trail Went Cold.
1:28.2	I'm your host Robin Werder, and this week we're going to be covering a controversial and heartbreaking missing children's case, the 2001 disappearance of four-year-old Relya Wilson.
1:34.0	That voice you just are narrating our intro was Jacqueline Collins, the latest winner of our
1:39.0	most recent Trail Went Cold listener voiceover contest, so thank you very much, Jacqueline.
1:45.2	This is a recurring monthly contest which we've been carrying on for over eight years now, so if you'd like to enter
1:49.3	and haven't already done so, I'll be providing instructions due to the end of this episode.
1:54.7	Anyway, the disappearance of Rillia Wilson is the case that Jacqueline requested I cover when she
1:59.4	originally entered this contest,
2:01.4	and this is one of those infuriating disappearances in which it turned out that a child had been
2:06.1	missing for a lengthy period of time before an investigation was officially launched.
	...

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