A Very Sad Day at the Allegheny County Courthouse

The court reporting profession lost a very talented person in Cheryl Wilds not only in her ability to make the legal justice system click in PA but with everyone she touched in her life!! We will miss you, Cheryl.

~ the Beagle

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Court reporter shot at North Side bus stop dies

By Jill King GreenwoodTRIBUNE-REVIEWFriday, February 29, 2008
Friends and co-workers called Cheryl Wilds the "Hines Ward" of the Allegheny County Courthouse.

Like the Steelers receiver, the longtime court reporter had an infectious laugh and quick smile for everyone, friends said, and could bring light to any situation.

"The world is a much darker place today since she died," said James Sheets, an attorney who knew Wilds for about seven years. "She was full of life and just to be in her presence made you happy. This is a tragedy of the worst kind."

Wilds, 47, a mother of three, died late Wednesday, more than three months after being shot near her North Side home. Police said they added a homicide charge against the teen already in custody in connection with the shooting of Wilds as she stepped off a Port Authority bus Nov. 21, Thanksgiving groceries in hand. Jayquan Massey, 18, was held for court following a December preliminary hearing on attempted homicide and other charges. He was awaiting arraignment on the new charge last night.

Police say Massey fired several shots that night at a sport utility vehicle on Bonvue Street in Wilds' Perry North neighborhood because several occupants of the SUV had been taunting him for days. One shot struck Wilds in the neck, police said, severing an artery.

Wilds' relatives said she had been improving since the shooting and was responding well to treatment after being transferred from Allegheny General Hospital to Shadyside Nursing Rehabilitation Center. Workers there found Wilds dead in her bed about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office will perform an autopsy.
Her family had just gathered at her side on Sunday, said her brother, Don Wilds, 53. Though she couldn't talk and remained paralyzed on her left side, she was in good spirits, he said.
"It's shocking to all of us because we were all looking forward to the day when we could bring her home," her brother said. "We don't know what to say. We loved her."
Family, including Wilds' sons, ages 25, 16 and 14, visited her regularly, said her sister-in-law, Carol Wilds. She could use her right hand to write notes to visitors and recognized relatives, Carol Wilds said.

"She was moving and responding and could shake her head yes or no," Carol Wilds said. "When we would get ready to leave, she'd get upset and start to cry and we'd have to calm her down. We're just devastated."

Neighbor Bill Schmidt said that he had visited Wilds at the nursing home Monday and she had recently returned from emergency treatment for a tracheotomy infection at UPMC Shadyside. She seemed to be improving and was moving her legs and arm and blowing kisses.
Schmidt's wife had told Wilds she was "going to come back to us, as smiling and as beautiful as ever."

"She looked at us and she nodded, 'No.' But I said she would be coming back, and I believed it," said Schmidt. "Cheryl Wilds was the backdrop to the entire neighborhood. If I close my eyes, I can see her now."

The youngest of four children, Wilds graduated from Wilkinsburg High School and went to Duff's Business Institute to learn court reporting, according to her brother. Courthouse colleagues said Wilds started to work for the county in 1994. Jo Lynne Ross, manager of the county's Office of Court Reporters, said Wilds' co-workers were having trouble believing that she had died.

"One of the attorneys said, 'I'll give you $50 to walk through the courthouse and if you find one person who says anything bad about Cheryl Wilds, you can keep the money,' " Ross said. "That sums up Cheryl's spirit perfectly. Everyone loved her."