There she was, Kentucky's Miss America, cutting the ribbon on a new bathroom at the Florence Mall.

        And there we were, her bodyguard and I, reminiscing about another world.

        It's good to remember that world sometimes. It makes this one look like paradise.

        For six years, Kentucky state Trooper James Caudill investigated child sexual abuse in Eastern Kentucky. I was a reporter there, and every so often we would talk about his cases — terrible sagas in which broken children looked to him for salvation, and he battled reluctant parents and slow-moving courts.

        We hadn't seen each other in several years. Our chance meeting on Saturday brought everything back.        

New beat

        Trooper Caudill still works for the state police, but now he's assigned to protect Lt. Gov. Steve Henry and his wife, the former Miss America Heather French Henry.

        It's a likeable job. The Henrys are high-energy, hardworking people, and Trooper Caudill has accompanied them all over the state. He attended the Miss America pageant with Mrs. Henry this year. Saturday, he drove her to Florence.

        The mall just turned 25, and in celebration, it has a new, unisex bathroom for families. Trooper Caudill watched the Second Lady's purse while she signed autographs and gave a speech.

        “There is no other state like our state,” she told the crowd. “Kentucky has the most genuine people.”

        I agreed. Then I remembered the other Kentucky, the one that haunts those who know it.        

Child abuse battle

        Trooper Caudill's most wrenching case involved a boy named Harry Jr.

        Harry and his twin sister had been abused by their father, who would tie Harry to a table and sexually assault his sister in the back yard. When the family went shopping, Harry was left tied in the basement.

        As an adult, the sister finally told, and Trooper Caudill interviewed Harry. He was 28 and living alone in a two-room house, which he kept sparkling clean.

        Model cars and polished work boots were lined up neatly in his bedroom. Somebody had given him an old bicycle, which he had rigged with a radio and a basket.

        He looked like a 12-year-old in a man's body, Mr. Caudill said. A boy trying to bring order to his life with compulsive neatness.

        Harry and his sister testified against their father. Harry was so traumatized that he had a seizure in the courthouse. He recovered. His father got two life sentences and died in prison.        

Case is never closed

        On stage at the mall, Mrs. Henry was encouraging children to pursue their dreams. “Tell them Miss America 2000 told you so!”

        People applauded. The mall was filled with light, strollers, children in their mothers' arms. It looked beautiful to me.

        Trooper Caudill still has 200 open cases, which occasionally bring him back to Eastern Kentucky. He switched jobs because he hopes to retire soon, and executive security pays 20 percent more than child-abuse investigation.

        To keep things in perspective, he travels with a thank-you letter from Harry Jr. in his car.

        “Do you think there's closure, ever, for a kid?” he asked me on Saturday.

        We looked at each other. I couldn't be hopeful.

        “I don't, either,” he said.

        Karen Samples can be reached at 859-578-5584 or ksamples@enquirer.com.

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