79-year-old woman appeals for kidney donor in a bid to outlive her daughter's killer and ensure he never walks free
A mother is desperately looking for a kidney donor so she can stay alive and ensure her child's killer remains behind bars.
Edith 'Sammie' Siordia, 79, whose seven-year-old daughter was raped and murdered in Michigan 52 years ago, wants to make sure Theodore Glenn Williams never walks free, Daily Mail reports.
While Siordia battles kidney disease, 80-year-old Williams remains imprisoned at a state psychiatric hospital in Michigan. He's been there for most of his adult life, ever since he pleaded guilty to murdering little Sonya in Grand Rapids back in 1967.
Of late, Williams has launched a number of appeals in a bid to live out his final days outside the confines of the hospital. However, Siordia has vowed to continue the fight and ensure the courts never let him out.
Siordia, who says her daughter's memory inspires her to screw her courage to the sticking post and keep fighting, was recently told by doctors that she needed a kidney transplant.
"It worries me that one day he's going to get out," Siordia told MLive. "If I have to fight this again, I'm going to do it 'til my last breath, if I can, you know? I've gotta stay alive for Sonya."
Siordia's organs no longer work efficiently enough to sustain her day-to-day life, and now she's appealing to the public for a kidney donor via the Kidney Buzz website.
"The memory of my children, that I have lost, gives me the strength to continue fighting Kidney Failure and live on dialysis which is crippling for most patients," she wrote on the website. "This is especially the case when I think about the memory of my daughter, Sonya. Her memory inspires me to keep going."
In September 1967, Williams kidnapped Sonya while she was on her way home from school before raping and killing her. At the time, he had been dating Sonya's babysitter and even comforted Siordia at her home before authorities found the little girl's body.
"He would sit in my kitchen and say, 'If I could get my hands on the SOB, I'd kill him.' All that time it was him," Siordia said.
The seven-year-old's body was found almost three weeks later by horseback riders. Police were able to link Williams to the crime after he accidentally buried his estimate book with the victim's body.
Williams pleaded guilty and also admitted to killing a 13-year-old girl. However, he was deemed a criminal sexual psychopath and committed to a state mental hospital instead of being sent to prison.
But a year later, the Criminal Sexual Psychopath Act was repealed. This meant Williams could be released if there were reasonable grounds to believe Williams was no longer a psychopath and a potential threat to society.
Williams was discharged for a brief period in 1973. However, prosecutors refiled charges and he was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in Sonya's case. Six years later, a high court judge ordered Williams to be committed to the state psychiatric hospital based on the previous law that was in place when he was originally sentenced. Ever since, Williams has insisted he has recovered and repeatedly sought his release from the facility. But every time he launches an appeal, Siordia fights it in honor of her slain daughter.
Having said that, Williams is allowed to petition for his release once every year.