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In April, Bernadine Buccafuri came across the story of Alissa Guernsey, tucked among too many on a child-abuse website.
Buccafuri was deeply touched by the horrors the 16-month-old had endured in her short life, apparently at the hands of a relative who had taken her in.
Alissa died on March 28, 2009. In 2011, Christy Shaffer, her mother's cousin, pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent, was sentenced to four years in prison, was freed by a judge after serving 77 days and returned to Topeka.
It didn't matter that the case was over, or that Buccafuri lives in Pennsylvania; she says she was driven to do something about the injustice she perceived.
So she found a friend to help her start a website, BabyAlissaCries4Justice.org, and a related Facebook page, she said last week.
The friend set up the website, she says, and they contacted Alissa's mother, Kelli Sprunger, who sent them photos of Alissa and other information.
The friend -- who lives in New Jersey and did not respond to The Tribune's attempt to contact him -- recently persuaded an Indianapolis television reporter to meet them in LaGrange County to report on the case, Buccafuri says.
But what happened after that might be a lesson in how good intentions sometimes attract those whose motives are less clear.
Money and lies
Sprunger says she initially was grateful for the help in publicizing what she, too, sees as an injustice. She sent family photos she says she made clear were not for posting online, she says.
When they sent Sprunger an agreement to sign that would give permission for fundraising, she says, "I said, 'Absolutely not. It sounds like I'm trying to exploit my dead daughter.'"
Buccafuri says Sprunger initially gave permission, then changed her mind, and then changed her mind again. The website took donations for travel to Indiana and to pay for legal advice, she says, and has told supporters that anything else would be donated.
But Buccafuri says that when she and the friend returned from their three-day trip to LaGrange County, she discovered that not only did he want to be paid for what had been volunteer work on the sites, he also was posting lies about how the money was being spent.
So two weeks ago, just as the Facebook page with 11,000 "likes" on Oct. 1 was beginning its exponential growth -- topping 64,000 "likes" Friday night -- the website was quickly shut down.
The friend "was asked to leave this organization when he suddenly decided that he wanted to be paid for work that he volunteered to do. He knew from the start that BAC4J was NOT FOR PROFIT, and always would be," Buccafuri wrote on the Facebook page. "I cannot repeat this enough, NO ONE WILL EVER PROFIT OFF OF ALISSA OR HER DEATH!"
He was also "starting fights, talking down to people, bending the truth, or just flat out lying. ... A little less than $900 was collected through your donations. The trip itself cost about $630. The remainder of the money is safe in an account created especially for Alissa. If those funds are not needed to further our pursuit of justice, they will be donated to a child abuse awareness/prevention fund in Alissa Beth Guernsey's name."
One of the supporters made a doll inspired by Alissa, which she sold on eBay for $260, and donated to the cause, Buccafuri says. Some of "Alissa's Army," who live closer, have visited Alissa's grave in Bronson, Mich.
Sprunger, whose kids were placed with Shaffer because of her own issues, says she's been touched by the outpouring of support and met a local woman online who has been instrumental in helping her stay sober and find God.
'It just tears me up'
Many supporters have written letters to the judge and others involved in the case and appealed to Indiana's attorney general and Supreme Court disciplinary commission for help.
