(25 News)–– Leona Heller picked up the mail at her house two weeks ago and found a letter that horrified and disgusted her.
The family is angry, heartbroken and most of all looking for answers.
“It made me cry, it still makes me cry because it makes me fear for her life,” she said.
Sent anonymously and addressed to the entire family, it read in part, “You better keep that nasty black thing under control otherwise you might find it in a ditch. Get out of this neighborhood. You are nothing but trash.”
The letter ended with nothing but “first warning.”
Heller’s eight-year-old great granddaughter is black – now none of them feel safe in this neighborhood.
“It tells me to move out of my neighborhood – you know I’m not a rich person,” she said. “I can’t just get up and move.”
The Canton Police Department said they are taking the letter very seriously and whoever is responsible will be charged with more than one crime.
“The hate crime aspect of it, there’s the general threat, disorderly conduct part of it and because it was delivered through the mail that’s another venue to look at as well,” said public information officer Edward Glad.
The United States Postal Inspection Service website says threatening letters are a serious federal crime.
Glad said police patrols have been increased in the area and they are waiting on forensic results such as fingerprints from the letter itself.
“That’s the problem as it’s sitting at the Morton crime lab as we speak but it’s also on a waiting list,” he said. “They have a backlog of evidence not just for our community but the whole region.”
He said every child has a right to feel safe in their neighborhood and they won’t stop until she feels safe again.
Heller is afraid the lasting impacts this experience will have on her little great granddaughter.
“…she’s petrified, that’s why I worry about her, what her fear is,” she said. “I know what my fear is but it’s her mainly.”
“She can’t go outside and play and get on her skates and roll around the streets and stuff you know, It’s just wrong.”
The police department is urging anyone with information about who sent the letter to call them at (309) 647-5131. Anyone who would like to remain anonymous is asked to call CrimeStoppers at (309) 647-3636.
