Wayne Treacy Charged with Attempted Murder in 'Text Rage' Beating that Left Josie Ratley in a Coma

Florida girl attacked at school leaves hospital

The Associated Press


Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 8:32 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 8:32 a.m.


FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The 15-year-old girl who authorities say was brutally attacked by another teen at a Florida middle school has left the hospital.


Josie Lou Ratley moved to a rehabilitation facility Tuesday, about six weeks after the alleged beating at Deerfield Beach Middle. Her feeding tube was also removed.

Wayne Treacy, 15, is accused of trying to kill Ratley at a school campus bus stop on March 17. He is charged as an adult with first-degree attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Ratley suffered brain damage in the assault. She still cannot walk, talk or use her right arm and fingers.

Attorney Rick Freedman says she still has a long road ahead and that it will be years before the full outcome of her injuries are known.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100428/ARTICLES/100429401/1034?Title=Florida-girl-attacked-at-school-leaves-hospital

I'm glad she got to go home, but it's still so horrible the extent of her injuries, and that it will take years for the full outcome to be known.

FystyAngel wrote:Rehab begins for Deerfield school beating victim Ratley


The lawyer representing Wayne Treacy, who admits to the violent assault, said the suspect's family is pleased to hear of Ratley's progress. Attorney Russell Williams said Treacy is remorseful and asks about Ratley frequently. Treacy's mother, Donna Powers, was "very happy" to learn Ratley was out of the hospital, Williams said Wednesday.

Of course they're happy and pleased...no murder charge. Never mind every thing this poor girl and her family still have to go through.

You're right pi-girl. They should be VERY happy.

I know this kid is young & I also know he has problems but I don't feel that it gives him the right to just hurt anyone he wants. This poor girls life has changed FOREVER. Beacuse of HIM.

This boy acted with intent to cause harm. He changed his footwear, donned his steel-toed boots, thus he became armed with a dangerous weapon. He texted friends that he was going to kill Josie. Apparently none of his friends believed that he was mentally ill, and did nothing to prevent the assault on this girl. He repeatedly stomped and kicked the girl, aware of what he was doing, and determined to inflict severe bodily harm.

Deerfield Teen Beating Suspect Texts Revealed

May 13, 2010 11:15 pm US/Eastern

CBS4 News has obtained a number of documents and new details in the severe beating case of 15-year-old Josie Ratley. Included are a number of text messages sent by beating suspect Wayne Treacy in the hours leading up to the attack on the Deerfield Beach Middle School campus on March 17.

In a brief, undated will acquired by CBS4 News, Treacy wrote promising some of his possessions -- a stereo, weights, a PS3 game system, a DS game system, a bike and knives -- to his friends.

CBS4 News also learned that Treacy's girlfriend and fellow suspect, Kayla Manson, told a friend at school earlier in the day that her boyfriend planned to beat someone who "called him a rapist for dating a middle school girl" and made disparaging comments about his dead brother.

Manson's friend told detectives when Treacy arrived he didn't know who Ratley was. The friend said Manson pointed her out saying, "That's her with the red shirt and the red and black backpack."

The friend said when Treacy began beating Ratley, Manson turned to leave. The friend turned to Manson and said, "Why are you leaving, isn't she your friend?"

The friend said Manson replied, "F--- her, that's what she gets for talking about his dead brother."

The texts begin early in the day on March 17, and the ones included in the paperwork from the State Attorney's Office only include the ones retrieved from Treacy's phone.

The first text shows an exchange between Ratley and Treacy where Ratley calls him a "rapest."

But the text that set off Treacy -- the one about his brother who recently committed suicide -- has not been released by prosecutors.

Treacy spends several hours texting friends. One text at 12:11 pm reads, "This b---- knows my brother dead, said sum s--- to me about him. She goes to DBMS, i'm going to kill her."

He allegedly tells several friends that he's going to kill the girl who made the remark and that he plans to go to jail.

One friend texts him, "how u guna kill her?"

Treacy responds, "Snap her neck then stomp her skull. Fastest way I could uhink of."

A short time later, Treacy explains to another friend what led to the bad blood, "this bxtch ran her mouth bout my bro who she knew is dead, nao i want her head. Um waiting nao. She gets outta skwl in 40 min."

A friend texts Treacy, "don't do it...."

But investigators Treacy went to the campus with steel-toed boots on and malice on his mind.

Surveillance video from the school shows Treacy walking the campus with Manson at 2:34 pm on March 17. Minutes later, investigators say Treacy repeatedly kicked and punched Ratley until she was bleeding in the brain and in need of brain surgery. Her doctor told detectives, "Every bone in her face was broken."

Just minutes after the beating, Treacy allegedly texts a friend: "I just tried to kill sum1. Im going to prison."

After the beating, Treacy did speak to investigators. He told a detective that Ratley was calling him "the rapist" and that "set him off."

Treacy's attorney, Russell Williams, said everyone is pulling for Josie Ratley's recovery. He said Treacy is not a bad person.

"You're talking about a child who was not a bad child, not an individual who would go out and beat people up," Williams told CBS4's Carey Codd. "From the point where he found his brother and his brother died, everything in his life changed from that point forward. At least mentally. His school grades dropped. Everything dropped and nobody caught it."

Williams said only one side of the texts have been released and does not tell the whole story. He also said Treacy has spent dozens of hours with a psychiatrist since he's been in the Broward County Jail.

Williams said everyone involved is praying for Josie's recovery.

"(Treacy's) gonna have to live with that, and his mother and father are gonna have to live with that for the rest of his lives," he said. "We're just praying that she gets better. He's gonna need some serious therapy and counseling. You're looking at some type of post traumatic stress disorder and unfortunately for Josie she was the one that pushed a button."

Treacy is charged with attempted first degree murder. He is due back in court in a few weeks.

Josie Ratley has been released from the hospital and is a rehabilitation facility undergoing intense therapy.

http://cbs4.com/local/josie.ratley.deefield.2.1693364.html

Alleged accomplice in Deerfield Beach attack on Ratley may not have seen assault, prosecutors say

By Rafael A. Olmeda
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Updated: 4:18 p.m. Monday, May 17, 2010

The teenager accused of being an accomplice in the beating of Josie Lou Ratley probably did not see the attack as it took place, prosecutors said Monday.

Lead prosecutor Maria Schneider said Monday that there's no conclusive testimony indicating that Kayla Manson, 13, watched as her friend Wayne Treacy, 15, unleashed a violent beating on Ratley on the Deerfield Beach Middle School campus on March 17.

The prosecution and the defense have opposite interpretations of Manson's desire to leave the scene as Treacy attacked Ratley, 15. Schneider said it proves Manson knew what Treacy wanted to do. According to court documents, Manson turned to a friend as the attack was underway and said "she gets what she deserves."

Treacy was angry with Ratley over a series of text messages in which she allegedly accused him of being a "rapist" for his interest in Manson and made a reference to Treacy's brother, who committed suicide last October. Treacy admits to the assault, and his lawyer has indicated the teen's mental health will be a key to the defense.

Manson's lawyer, Jonathon Marne, has said his client believed Treacy was not being literal when he threatened to kill Ratley earlier that afternoon. She walked away believing Treacy was going to yell at Ratley and embarrass her, Marne said.

One witness told investigators that Manson was walking away when the attack started. That witness said she tried to get Manson to turn around and help her friend, but Manson kept going. At no point does the witness say Manson turned around or saw that the confrontation was physical and violent.

In previous statements, investigators have said Manson watched as the attack started, then walked away before it was over. Prosecutors have backed off that version of events.

Manson has been charged as a juvenile with principal to attempted murder. She's accused of helping Treacy find Ratley, knowing he intended to kill her. Manson was in court Monday for a brief appearance as her legal team asked for more time to review court reports and prepare a defense.

Manson was released to her family as she awaits trial.

Ratley suffered brain damage in the attack and is now undergoing rehabilitative therapy. Her family has not commented on the criminal developments in the case.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/alleged-accomplice-in-deerfield-beach-attack-on-ratley-692905.html

Interrogation Tape Released In Teen Beating Case

May 20, 2010 6:56 pm US/Eastern

DEERFIELD BEACH (CBS4) ― A newly released tape sheds more light on the case in which a Deerfield Beach teen was brutally attacked by another teen.

In the interrogation tape recorded soon after the March 17th attack, accused teen Wayne Treacy told a Broward Sheriff's Office official that "she said something about my dead brother and that set me off."

He was referring to Josie Lou Ratley. Treacy reportedly attacked Ratley over a text message she had sent him about his brother who had committed suicide. Treacy now faces adult charges for attempted first-degree murder.

When the BSO official asks, "Do you remember what it was?" Treacy replies, "No sir."

"There was just one thing that really angered me. Usually when I get angry it just goes away and I just vent and stuff, I don't know, I couldn't get the feeling to subside," Wayne Treacy told the BSO detective who interrogated him.

The interrogation tape released Thursday marks the first time the public has heard from 15-year-old Wayne Treacy as he describes the rage he felt inside.

The interrogation occurred sometime after he's accused of savagely beating 14-year-old Josie Ratley at Deerfield Beach Middle School.

Treacy said it began when Ratley called him a rapist in a text message because he was dating a 13-year-old girl. It escalated when he said she began talking about his brother Michael who recently committed suicide.

Treacy never clears up exactly what Ratley said that set him off.

Video: http://cbs4.com/video/?id=95892

Read more: http://cbs4.com/local/josie.ratley.deefield.2.1705397.html

The text message that provoked Wayne Treacy: 'Go visit ur dead brother'

By Rafael A. Olmeda
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Updated: 11:04 a.m. Friday, May 21, 2010



FORT LAUDERDALE — The text message that provoked the beating of Josie Lou Ratley was a cold brushoff meant to cut short an unpleasant exchange, with a reference to Wayne Treacy's brother that sent him into a rage he later said he could not control.

"Stop txtn mi phone rapest n if u dont care jus stop tryin me k," said the message that went from Ratley's phone to Treacy's Gmail account at 11:52 a.m. on March 17. "N jus go visit ur dead brother."

Treacy's response is immediate and vicious. In all capital letters, he writes: "Ur f-ing dead! I swear to God I'm gonna kill you. I'll f-ing find you! Your ass is cold, dead meat m-f-!"

It was not the first threat he made during the exchange, and prosecutors say it was not an empty one, though Ratley didn't seem to realize it.

"K, u make me giggle," she writes. Then, responding to the yet another threat, she indicates she brought up Treacy's brother, who committed suicide last October, as payback for a comment Treacy made earlier about her father.

"Like u did mi dad thing," she wrote. "Oh such a hipacrit."

Treacy responds: "…u knowingly took a shot at my deceased brother. Today, you die, Slut."

Prosecutors say Treacy messaged several friends with his intent to find and kill the person who sent him the message. He barely knew Ratley. But he got dressed, put on the steel-toed boots he wore almost every day, and bicycled three miles from his home in Pompano Beach to Deerfield Beach Middle School.

There he found his friend, Kayla Manson, 13. Manson, allegedly knowing Treacy's intent, led him to Ratley at a campus bus stop.

The assault on Ratley, 15, left her brain damaged to the extent that more than two months later, she can barely speak and is relearning basic skills such as reading and recalling the days of the week.

The message transcript was released Friday morning by Treacy's Fort Lauderdale lawyer, Russell Williams. He said they were copied from Treacy's e-mail account soon after the attack, but they've since vanished from his inbox. Williams said it's possible some messages are missing from the transcript he has and is waiting for prosecutors to obtain and release a complete set from computer and cell phone records.

Williams decided to release the text after prosecutors distributed the first part of Treacy's recorded statement to detectives, in which he said the message that sent him over the edge "wasn't that bad." Williams said a psychologist who examined Treacy said as the teen rode to the school, Ratley's offending text message was not at the center of his thoughts.

"What played in his head wasn't what Josie said. It was his brother hanging from a tree," said Williams, citing the psychologist.

The exchange began a short time earlier, with Manson borrowing Ratley's phone and asking Treacy to go on his Gmail account. By the time Treacy does, Manson had returned the phone to Ratley.

"Kayla don't want to talk 2 u," Ratley wrote.

"F- you," Treacy responds. "She does."

Ratley bites back, "Lol rapest." She tells Treacy to perform a sex act on Manson, resulting in the first threat from Treacy: "Your ass is getting f-d up. Wait for it. I will find you."

"Threat me alllll u want I think its funni," she wrote.

Last week, Williams described the exchange by saying Ratley did not seem to be aware that she was pushing dangerous buttons with Treacy, who was emotionally reeling from his brother's suicide last October.

A few minutes later, Treacy defends himself, downplaying his age difference with Manson and asserting their relationship was not sexual. "Um sorry ur father abused u, but u shouldn't take it out on others," he writes.

"Mi dads dead bitch," Ratley responds.

Wayne later said he didn't realize Ratley's father was dead, whereas Ratley knew about Wayne's brother.

But Ratley's father is not dead and has never been accused of abusing her. Storm Ratley has visited his daughter since the incident and lives in Georgia. Attorney Rick Freedman, who used to represent Josie Ratley's mother, Hilda Gotay, and now represents Storm Ratley, said Friday he is unaware of any allegation of abuse.

Gotay's new lawyer, Sean Domick, said Thursday she is not following news accounts and is concentrating on her daughter's struggling recovery.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/the-text-message-that-provoked-wayne-treacy-go-700687.html

I think I'm sickened by ALL of the exchanges! What kind of people say things like this? What kind of parents do they have?

I'm sorry, I still don't believe the young girl deserved to be beaten within an inch of her life, no matter what she said. The lawyer for the boy, well, IMO, he's as sick as the text messages. IMO, he should not have released them. He's trying to justify the beating (IMO) and there is NO justification for a beating like that. Two wrongs do not make a right, no matter how to dish it.

I hope that all the parents & adults involved take a really hard look at all of this. I know I would never believe my child would speak to another like that. Then again, I can honestly say...I don't think any of MY children would. What kind of life did these children have?

What kind of parents or teachers do they have? I don't think kids should be allowed to have cell phones in class. During a time both kids were supposed to be in class at different schools learning, they were on their phones having a text war that almost lead to Josie losing her life.

Ratley Beating Suspect Has History of Behavioral Problems
Wayne Treacy recommended for Ritalin at age 4, has PTSD: Shrink

By BRIAN HAMACHER
Updated 9:36 AM EDT, Mon, May 24, 2010





The court-appointed psychiatrist evaluating teen beating suspect Wayne Treacy said the 15-year-old has a history of behavioral problems dating back over a decade.

Appearing on the "Today Show" Monday morning with Treacy attorney Russell Williams, Dr. Michael Brannon said Treacy not only suffers from post traumatic stress disorder from the suicide of his brother, but he's also had behavioral problems since he was just four years old.

"He has an earlier diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder," Brannon said. "As a matter of fact, at the age of four, it was recommended to his mother that he be placed on medication, stimulant medication called Ritalin, in order to help him with his hyperactivity."

Treacy has been charged with attempted murder as an adult in the brutal March 17 beating of Josie Lou Ratley outside her Deerfield Beach Middle School.

The two had been involved in a heated text message exchange just a few hours before the attack, in which Ratley called Treacy a "rapest" and made a comment about his dead brother.

An enraged Treacy put on a pair of steel-toed boots, biked three miles to the school and went after Ratley, beating and stomping her nearly to death.

"I do think he snapped, in kind of a non-clinical way," Dr. Brannon said.

Brannon, who has spent about 20 hours evaluating Treacy, said the teen lashed out for the first time after his brother's suicide in October of last year.

"At this particular point in time he was overwhelmed with emotions about his brother, who he found hanging from a tree along with his mother," Brannon said. "He never resolved that, never dealt with that."

Brannon said that Treacy has been quite emotional over the whole incident, despite the impression that he's simply a cold-blooded, violent kid.

"He's a very sad kid, that's the first impression that you have," He's very tearful, he's very remorseful. He can't understand how he could possibly do something like this."

Williams said that Treacy's anger hadn't subsided in the three-hour gap between the text message exchange and the attack.

"He was overwhelmed, overcome with emotions," Williams said. "The ride, the three hours in between that time...he was not thinking about those text messages, he was thinking about defending his brother...and at that point he had a script played out in his head and he just couldn't get back to where he needed to be."

Ratley suffered severe brain damage in the attack and spent over 40 days at the pediatric intensive care unit at Broward General Medical Center. She was moved to a rehabilitation center last month and her family said she'll be going home in the coming days.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Ratley-Beating-Suspect-Has-History-of-Behavioral-Problems-Shrink-94730704.html

Texts that preceded teen girl’s beating revealed
Defense claims 15-year-old texted ‘warning flares’ that friends ignored

By Mike Celizic
TODAYshow.com contributor
May 24, 2010

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The 15-year-old Florida boy charged with savagely beating a teenage girl after they exchanged bitter text messages sent up “warning flares” first that were ignored, his defense lawyer said Monday.

Appearing on TODAY Monday, attorney Russell Williams told Meredith Vieira that one of the triggers for the brutal assault was 15-year-old victim Josie Ratley's reference to the recent suicide of the brother of his client, Wayne Treacy.

“He actually sends up flares to three of his friends, tells them what he is going to do. Nobody says anything. Nobody calls the police. Nobody calls his mom. Nobody calls the school,” Williams said. “He’s saying, ‘Stop me, stop me, stop me. I need help, I need help, I need help,’ and it just never happens,” Williams said.

Read more: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37312533/ns/today-today_people/#ixzz0osErBVLo

So it's every ones fault that this happened? I only read one text she sent regarding his brother and I took it to mean he should do the same thing his brother did, JMO

Josie was mainly calling him on the fact he was seeing an elementary student and he was in high school. His girl friend was a friend of hers, and maybe confided in Josie that they were having sex. That is why she called him a rapist.

When he started threatening her, I don't think she took it seriously, she told him he was making her laugh.

All of his friends said he wasn't that kind of guy, so they didn't take him seriously either.

Wayne definitely overreacted to Josie's texts. It sounds like the psychologist is saying that Wayne subconciously wanted somebody to stop him, but couldn't manage to stop himself. I don't think it's anybody's fault but Wayne's, but it wouldn't have happened if they weren't allowed to play around on their cell phones in school.

I hope Josie fully recovers and I hope Wayne serves plenty of time and/or gets plenty of professional help before being let loose in society again.

J4a said:

It sounds like the psychologist is saying that Wayne subconciously wanted somebody to stop him,

J4a, this was not a psychologist, it was his defense atty.

sitemama wrote:J4a said:

It sounds like the psychologist is saying that Wayne subconciously wanted somebody to stop him,

J4a, this was not a psychologist, it was his defense atty.

That will teach me for going away from the computer and finishing listening to the videos without watching the whole things. I wouldn't buy that even if it was the psychologist who said that. I wonder what a court appointed psychologist is doing going on a morning show and sitting side-by-side with a defense attorney anyway.

Beaten teen released from rehab center

June 01, 2010 1:27 PM

A 15-year-old girl who suffered a brutal beating outside her middle school in March has been released from the rehabilitation center where she's lived since April 27.

Josie Lou Ratley has been undergoing extensive physical and occupational therapy in the rehabilitation center since leaving the hospital.

Josie's ordeal began March 17, when 15-year-old Wayne Treacy allegedly beat her to the ground and stomped on her with steel-toe boots after exchanging text messages that made reference to his dead brother.

"Josie continues to make slow progress, but she still has a long road ahead of her and will continue with outpatient rehabilitation," said family attorney Sean Domnick of Domnick & Shevin, P.A. "Josie and Hilda are adjusting to her return home and trying to accommodate her new needs."

http://www.cbs12.com/news/-4726535--.html

'I'm a monster' Wayne Treacy laments about beating girl

By Rafael A. Olmeda
South Florida Sun Sentinel
Updated: 8:48 a.m. Friday, June 4, 2010

Left alone during a two-hour interrogation after he beat Josie Lou Ratley so severely she suffered brain damage, Wayne Treacy scolded himself for losing control of his rage.

"I'm a monster," Treacy, 15, said, apparently unaware that he was being recorded at the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Talking to himself, to the sheriff's detective interviewing him, and to his mother, who came into the interrogation room for five minutes, Treacy insisted he never intended to harm the 15-year-old girl when he confronted her at Deerfield Beach Middle School on March 17.

"I didn't plan on hitting her," he told his mother, Donna Powers. "You know I rant when I talk to my friends and I say stuff like that! I only wanted to yell at her. And when I saw her, everything just …"

Witnesses and prosecutors say Treacy stomped repeatedly on Ratley's head with steel-toe boots at a campus bus stop. She spent weeks in a medically induced coma and must relearn basic skills such as brushing her teeth, walking and getting dressed, her family says.

Treacy has been charged with first-degree attempted murder. His lawyer, Russell Williams, said the tear-filled confession shows Treacy couldn't recall the beating and was not in full control of his mental faculties during the assault. Williams, who released the video of the interrogation, also said Treacy's self-condemnation was an expression of genuine remorse.

A court-appointed psychologist said last week that Treacy suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder caused by seeing his older brother's body hanging from a tree after committing suicide in October. Williams said he is preparing an insanity defense. Prosecutors say Treacy knew the consequences of his actions and knew what he was doing was wrong.

During the interrogation, Treacy was shackled to the floor in front of a long table. Unable to move from his seat, he often put his head in his hands or on the table. He repeatedly cried and muttered to himself. "You were supposed to yell at her, you stupid idiot," he said to himself.

When talking to the detective, Treacy said he flew into an uncontrollable rage when he read a text message to him from Ratley's phone that made a reference to his dead brother, Michael Bell. Treacy described going to Deerfield Beach Middle School, meeting his friend Kayla Manson, 13, so she could identify Ratley, and then confronting the older girl.

The next thing Treacy said he remembered was being on the ground and physically taken away from the scene. He said he did not remember actually hurting Ratley - "everything just disappeared" - and he only realized what he had done because of what people were saying around him.

"This girl is in pretty bad shape right now, dude," Sheriff's Detective Shane Schroeder told the sobbing Treacy a few hours after the beating. "Right now she's having to have brain surgery."

"Oh my God!" Treacy responded, gasping for air.

The suspect's mother was led into the room about an hour into the interview.

"Wayne, I'm so sorry, what were you thinking?" Powers said. "Why would you ruin your life like that? Why would you hit a girl? Wayne, oh my God. You just ruined your life! Attempted murder. What were you thinking, babe?"

Treacy responded: "I don't know. She said something about Mike. She knew he was dead and I lost it."

A few hours before the assault, Treacy was in a bitter text message exchange that started when Ratley apparently criticized him for dating Manson, authorities said.

According to a transcript of that exchange, Treacy received a message from Ratley's cell phone trying to put an abrupt end to the conversation. "Stop txtn mi phone, rapest… N jus go visit ur dead brother."

About five hours after the beating, Powers told her son she couldn't imagine what words could send him into such a rage.

"Why would you hit a girl? What could she possibly say to make you snap like that?" she asked Treacy.

Treacy temporarily regained control of his tears when he replied. "She just said something about 'your dead brother' and that just set me off so much," he said.

"To ruin your life, Wayne?" Powers said. "Maybe you should have went to counseling. I can't believe this is happening. Michael's gone. Now I'm losing you!"

"There goes med school," he said to her.

As she left, Powers was allowed a brief moment to hug her son. Both were in tears.

Earlier, the detective interviewing Treacy offered a less sympathetic ear. Schroeder challenged Treacy's denials, reminding Treacy of the text messages he sent before and after the attack on Ratley.

"You're not being honest with me," Schroeder said. "You're telling me you never had the intention to hurt her, but yet you sent 10 different text messages saying that you were going to … You texted how you were going to do it before you even did it. Do you understand what I'm saying to you, Wayne?"

Treacy never wavered from his insistence that the attack was not premeditated.

When Treacy said he put on his brother's steel-toe boots because his other shoes had holes and he didn't want to ruin his new sneakers, Schroeder said Treacy should admit he chose the boots because they would do more damage when he kicked Ratley.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/im-a-monster-wayne-treacy-laments-about-beating-726736.html

 

Father of Deerfield beating victim doubts she sent messages that led to beating

By Rafael A. Olmeda
Sun Sentinel
Updated: 8:54 p.m. Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Fort Lauderdale — Josie Lou Ratley could not have sent the text messages that infuriated Wayne Treacy and led him to attack the 15-year-old Deerfield Beach Middle School student as she waited for a bus on campus, the girl's father says.

Storm Ratley says the more he reads the March 17 messages from Josie Ratley's phone to Treacy's computer, the more he is convinced that his daughter was not part of the conversation.

"From the bottom of my heart, I do not believe Josie made those messages," Storm Ratley, 46, said in a recent interview. "Josie's heart is too large for that."

Treacy, 15, is charged with attempted murder for the beating that left the aspiring artist with severe brain damage. The boy told a detective he became uncontrollably angry after a profanity-laced text message argument in which Ratley, or someone using her phone, made an insensitive reference to his older brother's suicide.

According to a transcript released last month by Treacy's lawyer, the messages to Treacy's e-mail account came from Josie Ratley's phone.

A friend, Kayla Manson, 13, had borrowed the phone a short time before, and no evidence has emerged to suggest the sender was anyone other than Ratley. But the identity of the sender has yet to be established definitively.

Storm Ratley conceded he had not seen his daughter for five years before the beating, occasionally speaking to her over the phone. Still, he said, he was struck by the coarse language in the dialogue and an accusation from Treacy that took direct aim at him.

The argument started when Treacy sent a text message that said he wanted to talk to Manson, and the responder accused him of being a "rapest" for his interest in the young girl. Treacy said he believed the messages were from Ratley.

"Um sorry ur father abused u, but u shouldn't take out on others." Treacy wrote, according to the transcript.

"Mi dads dead bitch," came the response.

Storm Ratley, a carpenter who lives in Georgia but has been staying at a Fort Lauderdale hotel to be closer to his daughter, said he's never been accused of abusing her and doubts she would claim he was dead.

A short time after the exchange about Ratley's father came the message that Treacy says sent him into a rage: "Jus go visit ur dead brother."

Treacy put on his dead brother's steel-toe boots and biked to Deerfield Middle, where Manson is accused of pointing out Ratley to him. Treacy stomped on Ratley's head several times until he was pulled off her, authorities said. Manson has been charged in juvenile court as an accomplice.

Prosecutors still are waiting for phone records to confirm the transcript and determine whether it is complete. Assistant State Attorney Maria Schneider declined to comment on the messages.

Treacy's lawyer, Russell Williams, has said he is preparing an insanity defense

Storm Ratley visited his daughter frequently while she was at Broward General Medical Center but said he's been blocked from seeing her since she started rehabilitation in late April.

Sean Domnick, the lawyer representing Josie's mother, declined to comment on Ratley's efforts to see his daughter, saying custody and visitation are issues for family court, not the media.

On Tuesday, Domnick's office released video of Josie Lou Ratley's May 25 homecoming in Deerfield Beach after she was released from an undisclosed rehab center. In the video, she is seen smiling, laughing, opening gifts and speaking in short sentences.

"I like it," she said of one gift. "This is…?" she asked about another.

Ratley is still undergoing rehabilitation as an outpatient and has been unable to provide her own account of the events that led to the beating.

"Her heart would be broken if she knew people thought she sent those messages," Storm Ratley said.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/father-of-deerfield-beating-victim-doubts-she-sent-735382.html

If it turns out that Josie isn't even the one who sent those text messages, that would make this case more tragic than it already is.

But if the dad hasn't seen her in 5 years, how well does he really know her? There is a big difference in a 15 y/o and a 10 y/o kid.

sitemama wrote:But if the dad hasn't seen her in 5 years, how well does he really know her? There is a big difference in a 15 y/o and a 10 y/o kid.

That is true mama. I can't even imagine going five years without seeing my 10 y/o daughter, but I wouldn't know her very well if I did. Most likely Josie sent those messages and the father is in denial about what she wrote about him, but there is a small possibility that the girl who borrowed her phone to talk to Wayne got mad at him and wrote that stuff pretending to be Josie.