The Things The Little Girl Said

Read Michael Kruse: On the evening of Aug. 22, 2005, a camcorder clicked on in a gated community called Pristine Place.

Natalie Shelton, bleached blond and 25 at the time, sat on a couch wearing a tight white tank top and a blue denim miniskirt.

To her left was her daughter. The 6-year-old girl with brown, shoulder-length hair slouched on the couch with her arms crossed and looked at her mother.

"Okay," Natalie's neighbor friend Patti said from behind the camera.¶ "Okay," Natalie said."Will you tell me," Natalie said to her daughter, "what you said after our Chinese food about your dad? Can you tell me?"

"He cut my hair," the little girl said.

"Could you tell me," Natalie said, "what else you told me?"

"Well," the little girl started. She brushed her hair behind both her ears. "He touches -- sometimes he touches my tu-tu, and my private parts, even my butt."

"Is your tu-tu your private part?"

"Um-hum. And then he sticks his finger in my butt and tu-tu."

"So he sticks his fingers in your bottom and in your tu-tu?"

The little girl nodded yes.

The tape lasted just a few minutes. At the end, Natalie looked at the camera, held the look, then looked back at her daughter.

"Okay," Natalie said to the little girl. "You did really well. I'm so proud of you.

"Give me five," she said.

The little girl reached out to her mother and gave her a soft, low five.

"Okay, Patti," Natalie said. "That's it."


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