A Letter to Judge Roberta McPherson, On Behalf of the Defense

CW: Child abduction, religious extremism

Your Honor,

You know the facts. 

You know that on the afternoon of 30 October, 2018, eight-year-old Lucinda “Lulu” Safan, heiress to the billionaire Safan family fortune, did not arrive home from school. You know it was a Thursday. She was picked up on time from Berry Preparatory Academy by her nanny, Hayleigh Wilkes, who chatted with Lulu’s teacher, signed her out on the sign-out sheet, and then, instead of taking Lulu to her home on Park Avenue, took her somewhere else.

You know that according to CCTV footage from the Victoria’s Secret on Fifth Avenue, Lulu and Ms. Wilkes, still holding hands, enter Saint Patrick’s Cathedral at 4:13PM. An hour later, Ms. Wilkes exits alone.

You know the facts. I am writing this letter now, after a few short months as Hayleigh’s spiritual consult while she is imprisoned, and after my own private research that has involved hundreds of hours of conversation with Lulu’s friends and family, to implore you to look beyond the facts to understand why Hayleigh must be released.

Who is Hayleigh Wilkes? You know that she is twenty-two years old, white, educated in the Virginia public school system. She’s pretty, in an unremarkable sort of way. Most everything about Hayleigh Wilkes is unremarkable. Gina Barnes, director of operations for the nanny placement service that brought Hayleigh to the Safans, puts it this way: “She’s exactly the kind of person these families are looking for — sweet, educated, and easy to push around.” 

And who is Lulu Safan, beyond child billionaire and victim of what may be a horrible crime? By all accounts, something of an oddball. Stubborn and imaginative, she resisted all attempts at beautification by her socialite mother, approached the needy in the street to give them snacks from her backpack, and maintained a fascination with dead animals that culminated in the incident with the rat on the school playground. Months after the incident, a number of Lulu’s classmates still believe that she really did bring the rat back to life. 

At what point did Lulu, the youngest member of one of the most prominent Jewish families in the New York philanthropy scene, become so obsessed with the lives and deaths of the Catholic Saints? It’s hard to say, because no one was paying much attention. Miri Safan, to whom you have spoken during her tear-soaked court appearances, had no clue that Lulu was so enchanted by the idea of sainthood. 

“She’s always been a total weirdo,” Mrs. Safan told me on the one occasion I was able to get access to an interview. “She’s never wanted to play dress-up, or go shopping. And the drama over her hair, oh my God. I ask you, what normal little girl wants to shave her head?”

Given what I have been able to glean about the little girl’s family life, it may be safe to assume that the only person who understood the full extent of Lulu’s radical views was Hayleigh Wilkes. 

For the three months that Hayleigh worked in the Safan household, she and Lulu were together five days a week, from mid-afternoon until bedtime. A significant number of those hours were spent in the presence of other people. Like most of her peers at Berry Prep, Lulu was involved in a number of extracurriculars. There were adults in her life, none of whom found anything predatory or even strange about Ms. Wilkes. She was as normal as they come. Lulu, on the other hand, attracted attention. The girl’s Hebrew tutor describes her as, “extremely unique.” Her ballet instructor puts it more bluntly. “Creepy. That kid was creepy as hell.”

What Ms. Wilkes has to say about Lulu, you already know. Apparently, the little girl had fully convinced her that she had ben chosen by God, and that the saints, particularly Joan of Arc, Christina the Astonishing, and Saint Guinefort, spoke to her and helped her to perform miracles. Allegedly, over the three months they spent together, Lulu begged Hayleigh to rescue her from her home of excess and luxury and bring her somewhere she might learn to live in harmony with the teachings of Christ. 

The media is not satisfied with this version of events. On the few occasions when Hayleigh has spoken to journalists, they have bombarded her with questions. Was her crime an act of class warfare? Of anti-Semitism? Who at Saint Patrick’s aided her in the kidnapping? Where is Lulu?

Hayleigh Wilkes isn’t interested in answering these questions. Or rather, she isn’t interested in giving us the answers we want. 

I have spent many, many hours in conversation with Hayleigh about what happened on the afternoon of October 30th. Your Honor, please allow me to introduce you to a different perspective on the case than the one espoused by the mainstream media. Please consider this story, before a young woman’s life is ruined for nothing more than an act of faith. 

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Please imagine, for a moment, that you are Hayleigh Wilkes. A few short months ago, you were a college senior at a respected southern institution, a sorority girl of absolutely no distinction, moderately intelligent, moderately pretty, moderately talented. You have never lived in a city. You have never met a Jewish person. It takes one week in New York City and one email to a nanny placement agency to change your entire life. Just like that, you are spending your afternoons in a five-bedroom apartment on Park Avenue, trying to convince a little girl with more money than you can conceive of to do her Hebrew homework.

You’re determined to do your best with this one, but she is not easy. Lulu will not wash or brush her hair, talk to girls her own age, wear new clothes, or eat in restaurants. And then there is the obsession with the saints, particularly the martyred ones. Her fascination with gore and death is distasteful to you, but not beyond your experience with children and their phases. You’re great with kids, and this one will be no exception. You make a point of talking to Lulu, and you make a point of listening. But the things you hear are becoming increasingly unsettling. 

The little girl is talking to someone. More than one someone. She is asking her imaginary friends how she might live a more godly life. And they are answering. 

Lulu begins to take her allowance with her wherever she goes, so that she might hand it out on the street. She preaches — quite literally, preaches — to her classmates on the importance of obedience and respect and living a modest life. In one of her typical altercations with her mother, Lulu, who has had no exposure to the New Testament, calmly states that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven. 

All you want is to be a sympathetic friend to an obviously lonely little girl, but Lulu is starting to scare you. Perhaps, for the first time in years, you attend Mass. Perhaps, for the first time in years, you pray for guidance. Might someone be there to answer?

And then the rat incident. Hayleigh was there at the playground, early for pickup. Six of Lulu’s classmates were also nearby, playing Four Square on the pavement. Lulu was alone, by the wall, poking at something with a stick. It took Hayleigh a moment to realize that the thing engrossing Lulu was the swollen body of a dead rat. Hayleigh walked toward Lulu, calling out to her, and broke into a run when she saw Lulu bend over, pick up the patchy, scabby body, and kiss it. Hayleigh screamed. Lulu looked up, startled, and the rat, now a sleek, glossy brown, jumped from her hands and scurried away. Hayleigh maintains that this is what she saw, and no legal threats or public cajoling can convince her otherwise. 

Hayleigh Wilkes is a true believer. I can see it in her eyes. She believes in God, and she believes in Lulu. Hayleigh obeyed Lulu’s orders to take her away from her family and deliver her to the Church, where Lulu will be able to pursue her calling to become a nun. 

When I visit Hayleigh at the state penitentiary that has been her home since the beginning of this case, I don’t go to see a criminal, a kidnapper, a pawn acting in the service of those who hate the rich or hate the Jews. When I am with her, I am in the presence of a true disciple, a servant to a cause beyond the scope of the media or the legal system. 

And so, Judge McPherson, I beseech you to please consider these words as you decide the fate of a woman upon whom so much of the world has heaped judgement. Hayleigh Wilkes is not a common criminal, but a martyr. 

Sincerely,

Father Frank Miller

Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, NYC