According to the Laurel Leader-Call, that horrid story of a scarred 3-year-old girl being asked to leave a KFC in Jackson, MS...is a hoax.
It would seem that none of the family's story can be corroborated. To date, they have received more than $135,000 in cash, as well as gifts and pledges of free surgeries.
Follow me beyond the Great Orange Squiggle for the sad details...
The Leader-Call's article is behind a paywall, but the Jackson, MS Clarion-Ledger reported the following details:
Of the findings, the sources said:
• Kelly Mullins, the child's grandmother who was reportedly with her at the store, told KFC that the incident happened on May 15. A Facebook post attributed to Victoria's Victories, a support site for young Victoria Wilcher who was mauled by three of her grandfather's pit bulls, has the two in Jackson on May 15 having gone to Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital. There are two KFC locations close to the hospital — on Woodrow Wilson Drive and Meadowbrook Drive. [...]
• The source said surveillance videos show that at no time on the 15th were any children in the store who match the description of Victoria Wilcher or Mullins. The tapes were viewed in both the Meadowbrook and Woodrow Wilson KFC locations in Jackson, the source said. In hours of tape, the source said one small boy with his parents is seen, but they order food and leave the store.
• The source said no orders were recorded to include mashed potatoes and sweet tea on the same transaction, or even the two items as part of a larger order on May 15. Mullins told WAPT TV in Jackson shortly after the incident went viral on social media June 12 that: "I ordered a sweet tea and mashed potatoes and gravy." [...]
• The family initially told KFC the incident happened at the location on State and High streets, a claim backed by a Facebook post by Victoria's Victories, a page run by Teri Rials Bates, the girl's aunt that read: "Thank you for your support for Victoria. If you would like to file a complaint its the KFC on State Street in Jackson MS." That store is not in operation and has been closed for several years.
Victoria's Victories changed its story Friday, saying the State Street reference was a mistake. In it, Bates wrote. "Im the Aunt, I run her page and Im the one that miss quoted that it was State street when it was actually Woodrow Wilson. Dont blame the grandmother for my mistake!
How bad was the public reaction to this story? Probably worse than anyone imagined:
After it went viral, employees and managers at both Jackson locations have faced death threats, have had drinks thrown at them through the drive-thru window and have faced constant verbal harassment, the source confirmed. One employee told the Leader-Call on June 20 that it was the first day since the firestorm erupted that he would wear his KFC work shirt in public.
Since the franchise owner could not verify the incident, they brought in a third-party investigator; the findings of that investigation should be released this week.
If, indeed, this is a hoax, it's yet another cautionary tale for those of us who hear of these things second- (or third-) hand. Facebook != truth.