Fundraising Suspended for Scarred Girl in KFC 'Incident'
More than $135K had been raised for Victoria Wilcher.
— -- An online fundraising page for a toddler allegedly asked to leave a KFC restaurant due to her facial scars has been taken down after the restaurant chain said they had not found evidence that the incident ever occurred.
The GoFundMe page, which had raised more than $135,000, was removed Tuesday. A search for the page today produces the notice, "Campaign Not Found."
GoFundMe CEO Brad Damphousse said in a statement, "In lieu of the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the 'Victoria's Victories' online fundraising effort, GoFundMe has temporarily suspended the campaign until the full truth is made clear."
Damphousse said a hold has been placed on the account balance in the meantime. He said donors who wish to request a refund can do so on the GoFundMe website.
A Facebook page named “Victoria’s Victories” in support of the girl has also been deleted. A member of the girl's family that operated the page did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.
The two online sites were deleted after KFC said an investigation into the allegations did not reveal "any evidence that the incident occurred."
The grandmother of Victoria Wilcher, 3, claimed she and the girl were asked to leave a KFC restaurant in Mississippi because her scars from a dog attack were frightening customers. The girl was injured in an attack by her grandfather’s pit bull in April.
Victoria's grandmother, Kelly Mullins, told WAPT-TV she was driving her granddaughter home from the hospital when they stopped at a KFC on May 15.
"They just told us, 'We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,'" Mullins told WAPT-TV earlier this month. Victoria "understood exactly what they said," Mullins claimed.
In response to Mullins' allegation, KFC initially said it would contribute $30,000 to Victoria's medical care. Rick Maynard, a spokesman for KFC, told ABC News today that the company remains committed to the $30,000 it will donate toward the child's medical bills.
Read More: Aunt Says a Media Report Claiming Toddler Never Visited KFC Is 'Untrue'
Read More: KFC Probes Whether Scarred Girl Was Asked to Leave
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The owner of the KFC franchise, Hannon Food Services, told WAPT-TV on Tuesday that hundreds of hours were spent reviewing video surveillance.
"As of today, neither Hannon Food Services nor the outside firm involved in the consultation has found any evidence to verify that the incident took place at our restaurant on Woodrow Wilson Drive. Nevertheless, we'll continue to exhaust every possible avenue until we're absolutely sure we have all the facts," Hannon Food said in a statement.
As details of the report emerged, the girl’s relatives insist the claim was not a hoax.
“I never thought any of this would blow up the way it has,” Teri Rials Bates, who describes herself as Victoria’s aunt, wrote on a GoFundMe page Tuesday. “The article circling the web calling this a hoax is untrue. The article itself say the investigation is not complete. It is not over until KFC releases a statement... The family has not asked for anything, a attorney is handling all the media publicity for the family pro bono. Please do not believe untrue media."
Rials Bates and an attorney for the family have not responded to requests by ABC News for comment.
