Billy Watkins

The (Jackson, Miss.) Clarion-Ledger

JACKSON, Miss. -- Kelly Mullins stands by her story that a Jackson KFC employee asked her and her scarred 3-year-old granddaughter to leave the restaurant, but the family has "unequivocally rejected" the fast-food chicken chain's $30,000 donation.

Victoria Wilcher's family turned down the money "because we didn't feel it was appropriate to accept it after everything KFC has done," Jackson attorney Bill Kellum told The Clarion-Ledger.

Mullins maintains the KFC employee asked her and Victoria to leave because her granddaughter's face was scaring other customers.

Victoria was mauled by three pit bulls in April at the home of her grandfather. She lost her right eye and suffered multiple facial fractures.

"Kelly maintains that what she said happened at the KFC is true," Kellum said.

Kellum also said Mullins remains upset about a story in the Laurel Leader-Call on June 23, quoting an anonymous source stating that KFC could find no video footage of Mullins and Wilcher at the restaurant on May 15. The source called Mullins' claims "a hoax," which triggered angry public reaction directed at Mullins. Some people pulled their donation pledges.

"With everything that's happened, we just didn't feel right about accepting their money," Kellum said. "But we did tell them they were more than welcome to donate the money to the Frank Stile Foundation."

A Las Vegas plastic surgeon, Stile has agreed to perform Victoria's cosmetic surgeries through his nonprofit foundation. Raymond E. Peters of the Center for Custom Prosthetics in Naples, Fla., has offered to provide Victoria with a prosthetic eye.

Victoria will fly to Florida on Monday for a weeklong preliminary exam by Peters.

GoFundMe, a popular fundraising website, soon will release more than $100,000 in donations to go toward Victoria's medical care, Bill Kellum said.

"The family is committed to having the money put in a discretionary trust account for Victoria with a third-party, non-family member designated as the trustee," the attorney said. "They want to make sure every cent goes toward Victoria getting better."