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NEPHI — After waiting nearly a year, the family of “Little Addie” will soon have a headstone marking the 7-year-old’s final resting place — even as a fraud case continues into what happened to charity money set aside to purchase one.
“It means a lot and I just want to thank everyone,” said Tami Fausett, Addie’s mother. “I can go and not have an empty gravesite to sit at.”
Addie died in July 2016 after battling a terminal illness. She captured hearts and made headlines around the world when she received nearly 200,000 holiday cards in 2014 during what was expected to be her last Christmas.
A headstone would have been in place months ago, her mother explained, if it weren’t for nearly $20,000 vanishing from a charity account meant to cover medical bills and funeral expenses.
“It makes me mad and sad all at the same time,” Fausett said of the ongoing fraud case. “I know some people who donated, they didn’t have money to even give; and then to know that their money didn’t go to where they had intended ...”
Utah County prosecutors have charged James Fowlke Richards, 46, of Pleasant Grove, with three counts of communications fraud and one count of forgery.
Court documents allege that Richards sought reimbursement for Addie’s medical expenses using fake documents and later “admitted that he had used at least some of the money he had received inappropriately.”
Because of the missing money, Addie’s grave at Vine Bluff Cemetery in Nephi has sat unadorned for the past 11 months—except for flowers and other temporary decorations that must be removed for monthly landscaping maintenance.
After learning about the fraud case and the unmarked grave on KSL.com, Heritage Memorials owner Jared Antonino reached out to Fausett and offered to supply a custom monument.
“Someplace they can go and sit and reflect and talk,” Antonino said of the marker, which will feature butterflies and words from Addie’s favorite song “You Are My Sunshine.”
Antonino hopes the headstone will provide the family with some closure and remind them that “there’s still people that will help each other,” he said.
Others have also contacted Fausett and offered to help. She has encouraged them to contact Heritage Memorials directly to help Antonino cover the costs of the headstone.
