An
attorney
for
a
teen
charged
with
killing
her
elderly
grandparents
to
continue
a
lesbian
relationship
says
the
alleged
romantic
connection
“had
nothing
to
do
with
what
happened.”
Holly
Harvey,
15,
and
Sandy
Ketchum,
16,
are
charged
with
the
Aug.
2
slayings
of
Harvey’s
grandparents,
Carl
and
Sarah
Collier.
Law
enforcement
authorities
claim
the
two
hatched
a
plan
to
brutally
stab
the
couple
to
death
as
part
of
a
plot
so
they
could
remain
together.
“I’ve
said
Sandy
was
in
it
for
the
love,”
Lt.
Col.
Bruce
Jordan
of
the
Fayette
County
Sheriff’s
Department
told
Southern
Voice
this
week.
“I
kind
of
feel
Sandy
is
a
victim,
as
much
as
she
can
be
a
victim.
She
was
manipulated
[by
Harvey].
But
I
can’t
really
go
into
the
evidence
about
this.”
The
teens
are
both
charged
as
adults
with
one
count
each
of
felony
murder,
malice
murder
and
armed
robbery.
They
face
up
to
life
in
prison,
but
cannot
be
sentenced
to
death
because
of
their
age,
according
to
Fayette
County
District
Attorney
Bill
McBroom.
The
teens
were
denied
bond
by
Fayette
County
Superior
Court
Judge
Paschal
English
on
Aug.
19
after
being
described
as
flight
risks
by
Jordan.
No
testimony
was
presented
about
a
relationship
between
the
girls
during
the
35-minute
hearing
at
the
Fayette
County
Justice
Center
in
Fayetteville,
a
city
south
of
Atlanta.
Jordan
said
more
evidence
of
the
girls’
relationship
might
be
presented
at
a
preliminary
hearing
Aug.
31.
Harvey
and
Ketchum
remain
in
separate
juvenile
detention
centers
and
have
had
no
contact
with
each
other
since
their
arrest
Aug.
3,
according
to
authorities.
Harvey’s
court-appointed
attorney,
Judy
Chidester
of
Peachtree
City,
said
after
the
bond
hearing
that
her
client’s
relationship
with
Ketchum
is
inconsequential
to
the
tragedy.
“I
think
it’s
inappropriate
police
have
released
such
information,”
Chidester
said.
“This
didn’t
have
anything
to
do
with
what
happened.
I
think
[the
relationship]
is
a
misdirection.”
When
Ketchum’s
attorney,
Lloyd
Walker,
was
asked
about
the
girls’
alleged
lesbian
relationship,
he
said
bluntly,
“I’m
not
going
to
discuss
that.”
Dr.
Barbara
Rubin,
a
gay
Atlanta
psychologist,
said
the
teens
are
clearly
troubled
with
serious
mental
health
issues,
none
of
which
have
to
do
whether
or
not
they
are
lesbians.
“This
is
not
a
gay
story,”
she
said.
“They
didn’t
do
this
because
they
are
gay.”
Harvey
and
Ketchum
were
arrested
in
Tybee
Island
on
Aug.
3
after
fleeing
the
Fayette
County
home
where
Harvey
lived
with
her
grandparents.
The
two
took
the
Collier’s
blue
Chevy
Silverado
truck
to
make
their
escape
to
the
coastal
city
about
250
miles
from
Atlanta,
according
to
a
Fayette
County
Sheriff’s
Department
report.
Fayette
prosecutors
added
the
armed
robbery
charges
at
the
Aug.
19
hearing.
Harvey
and
Ketchum
also
allegedly
stole
some
of
Harvey’s
grandmother’s
jewelry,
according
to
prosecutors.
The
bodies
of
the
Colliers,
both
stabbed
more
than
a
dozen
times,
were
discovered
by
law
enforcement
authorities
after
a
Griffin
teen
called
911
to
report
Harvey
and
Ketchum
came
by
her
home
and
claimed
to
have
killed
Harvey’s
grandparents,
according
to
Spalding
County
Sheriff’s
Deputy
Cheryl
Brown.
The
Griffin
teen
said
both
girls
were
covered
in
blood
and
asked
the
friend
for
a
change
of
clothes
and
to
wash
up,
Brown
said.
Spalding
County
Sheriff’s
officials
contacted
the
Fayette
Sheriff’s
office,
which
sent
deputies
to
the
Riverdale
home
where
the
Colliers
lived
and
confirmed
they
had
been
killed.
Harvey
and
Ketchum
then
apparently
made
other
calls
to
friends
on
a
cell
phone.
Police
traced
these
calls
to
Tybee
Island
where
the
teens
were
eventually
captured,
Jordan
said.
During
the
bond
hearing,
Harvey,
apparently
in
tears,
rested
her
head
on
a
table
for
nearly
all
of
the
proceeding.
Chidester
tried
to
console
her
by
putting
her
arm
around
the
girl’s
shoulder.
At
one
point,
Harvey
raised
her
head
to
ask
Chidester
a
question.
“She
asked
me,
‘Is
there
anyone
who
is
going
to
testify
for
me?’”
Chidester
told
reporters
after
the
hearing.
Nobody
testified
for
Harvey.
Her
mother,
Carla
Harvey
—
who
was
adopted
by
the
Colliers
—
is
serving
a
three-year
prison
sentence
for
marijuana
possession.
The
Colliers
became
Holly
Harvey’s
guardians
after
her
mother
was
sentenced.
Holly
Harvey’s
father,
a
quadrapalegic
and
an
ex-convict,
said
he
would
not
testify
for
his
daughter
but
wanted
her
to
know
he
was
praying
for
her,
Chidester
said
after
the
hearing.
“She
has
nowhere
to
go,”
Chidester
said.
“And
she’s
never
really
had
that.”
Testifying
for
Ketchum,
who
cried
throughout
the
hearing
and
wiped
tears
away
with
a
tissue,
were
her
father
and
stepmother.
Both
teens
were
described
as
having
a
history
of
drug
use
...
