The Abduction of Cherrie Mahan

“A black hole opened up and she fell in...”
by Robert A. Waters

Twenty-five years. In the span of time, it’s nothing. But to the family of a missing child, it’s a lifetime. On the afternoon of February 22, 1985, eight-year-old Cherrie Ann Mahan (pictured above) stepped off her school bus with several other children. The kids scattered towards home, each going separate ways. When the dust cleared, Cherrie was gone. Vanished. Disappeared into the dark fog of time. The question remains unanswered: who snatched the brown-haired, brown-eyed girl with the beautiful smile?

It was about 4:00 p.m., and Cherrie was slightly more than fifty yards from her family’s mobile home in Winfield, Pennsylvania when she went missing. Due to the cold weather, she wore a gray coat, blue denim skirt, blue leg warmers, beige ankle boots, and brown earmuffs bearing the logo of a Cabbage Patch doll.

An article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review outlined the events surrounding the disappearance: “Cherrie's stepfather, Leroy McKinney, usually drove her the 50 yards from the bus stop at Cornplanter and Winfield roads in Winfield to the family's mobile home at the end of a steep, wooded driveway. The home was not visible from the road. But that day, [Leroy and his wife Janice] decided to let Cherrie walk [home].”

Leroy heard the bus pull up and leave. But when Cherrie hadn’t arrived within a few minutes, he drove down to the bus stop to check on her. She was nowhere to be found. Leroy raced back home and Janice called police.

The only real clue in two and a half decades was the sighting of a unique-looking van. After interviewing neighbors and the children on the school bus, investigators determined that a bright blue or green 1976 Dodge van had been seen following the bus. It had an unusual mural painted on it that covered the entirety of both sides of the van. The painting showed a snow-capped mountain with a skier headed down the mountain. The skier was dressed in red and yellow clothing.

Now it should have been easy to find that van. But alas, the vehicle was never located. As the years drained away, Pennsylvania State Trooper Frank Jedesky continued to work the case. Commenting on the mysterious van, he recently said, “By now it’s probably in a junkyard or somewhere.”

“It's the not knowing that kills you,” a heart-broken Janice McKinney said. “Every day you wonder and you look at some girl who's 33 and you wonder, ‘Is that her?’ I look at little kids and wonder, ‘Is that my grandchild?’”

Janice speaks of her child today as if Cherrie had fallen into a black hole. The pain never leaves, never goes away.

Who took Cherrie Mahan? Why did no one report that unusual van to police? Today, someone might still remember it. If so, please call the Pennsylvania State Police Missing Persons Unit at 1-412-284-8100.

Convicting on Circumstantial Evidence

The Strange Case of Andre Rand
by Kyle Tuttle

Holly Ann Hughes

The following guest article by Kyle Tuttle brings to light an issue that has troubled me for many years. It is well-documented that eye-witnesses to a crime can be wrong as often as they are right. Without additional evidence, no one should be tried solely on eye-witness testimony. I have no idea whether Andre "Cropsey" Rand is guilty of kidnapping and murdering Jennifer Schweiger and of kidnapping Holly Ann Hughes. He was convicted of those crimes and will spend the rest of his life in prison. Was the evidence really there? Was Rand proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt? You tell me.

The legend of Cropsey is probably the most easily recognized urban legend you’ve never heard of. Films such as Friday the 13th, Madman, The Burning, and, most recently, Hatchet, have taken their leads from this hulking deformed killer, who lives in the woods and comes out to snatch a child or teenager for his own hideous pleasure. The recent documentary Cropsey from filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio explores this legend through the real-life trial of alleged killer Andre Rand.

In 1987, Rand was arrested for the murder of Jennifer Schweiger, a child with Down Syndrome. Once Staten Island police made the arrest, they started connecting Rand to other disappearances, all involving kids with disabilities. Rand was a homeless drifter, who camped in and around the closed state mental facility Willowbrook, where he had once worked as an orderly. Multiple eyewitnesses came forward placing Rand with the missing children shortly before their disappearances. The coincidences piled up, but the evidence did not. Nevertheless, Rand was incarcerated in the penitentiary, where he remains to this day.

Rand has certainly not done himself any favors in the time following his initial arrest. Comments made to other inmates such as “kids entice me”; self-comparisons to serial killer Ted Bundy; and approaching another inmate with a request for child pornography, have all done their part in convicting Rand where hard physical evidence failed.

Clearly there are some pistons not firing in Rand’s head, but given the nature of his conviction, can a country that purports to convict “beyond a reasonable doubt” keep this guy locked up with a straight face? Just because someone is crazy, that doesn’t mean they’re guilty. While it feels better to have Rand locked up from a societal point of view, the implication that comes with his innocence is far more disturbing. A desire for justice could mean the real killer walks free, and that doesn’t do favors for anyone.

The eyewitness testimonies used to convict Rand ranged from compelling (for a few) to insane (for most). Somewhere in between were those citizens who seemed like they just wanted their names fit neatly into the emerging folklore of this real-life Cropsey.

That leaves one overpowering question: Should circumstantial evidence alone be admissible in court? If eyewitness testimony is all the prosecution can muster, how is convicting beyond a reasonable doubt even possible? If the legal system actually practiced what it preached, what would that mean for the thousands of Death Row inmates all over the country? And if you were forced to overturn those convictions, how many more innocent people would die outside the prison walls compared to those wrongfully executed? These are all studies that are impossible to perform. That’s why Lady Justice prefers proof. But if the Rand case is any indication, she doesn’t require it.

This post was contributed by Kyle Tuttle, a freelance writer who focuses his work on helping students find the right psychology degree. He can be reached at tuttletr33 at gmail dot com.

Grandmother Dies in Kidnap Attempt

Cassidy and Sharrel Blankenbaker


Sharrel Blankenbaker Saves Granddaughter
by Robert A. Waters

On the outskirts of Amarillo, Texas, a sad, violent scene played itself out on the evening of August 3, 2010. It happened in nano-second time, almost before the victims could react. Yet, in the midst of chaos and terror, a heroine emerged. But the alleged killer’s motives posed troubling questions.

At around 8:45 p.m., Sharrel Blankenbaker pulled into Love’s Country Store near I-40 in Amarillo. The sixty-two-year-old had three grandchildren in tow and they needed a bathroom break. While inside, twelve-year-old Cassidy Blankenbaker noticed a heavy-set man with a black cowboy hat smiling at her. He seemed kind of creepy. “I just got this weird feeling around him,” Cassidy said later. “It just felt odd. He was right next to us in the convenience store.”

It had been a busy day for the family. Sharrel had left her home in Felt, Oklahoma at around noon and had driven two hours to Amarillo. At three-thirty, she picked up two of her grandchildren, Cassidy, and her brother Dylan, 16, from the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. The siblings had flown in from Dan Diego for their annual two-week summer visit to grandma’s farm. Sharrel had brought along another grandchild, five-year-old Justin Blankenbaker. After leaving the airport, the family did some shopping, had dinner at a restaurant, and decided to head back to Felt.

After purchasing soft drinks at Love’s, Sharrel and her grandchildren walked out the front door. The black-hatted stranger, later identified as Gary Don Carner, 58, was waiting for them. He’d parked his white four-door pickup truck in the handicapped parking space directly in front of the door.

As Cassidy walked out, Carner grabbed her wrist and began trying to pull her toward the truck. “He jumped out of the car with a gun and pointed it at me,” Cassidy said. “[He] said, ‘Get in my truck or I’ll shoot.’ And he grabbed my arm and started pulling me. I kept saying, ‘No, I’m not going to get in your truck. Leave me alone. Get away from me.’”

As soon as the struggle began, Dylan grabbed Justin and pulled him back into the store.

Without hesitation, Sharrel placed herself between Cassidy and the gunman. “My Grandma tried to pull [Carner] off me,” Cassidy said. “‘Get off her’ [she said]. He was pointing the gun at me and then he shot her. I just kept hearing my Grandma screaming, ‘He shot me. He shot me. Somebody help me.’”

Sharrel fell to the ground but the distraction caused Carner to loosen his grip on Cassidy and she was able to wrench free. She ran behind the pickup truck. Carner came after her, his gun still in his hand. Cassidy stayed behind the truck, keeping it between herself and her assailant. Suddenly, Dylan opened the door of the store, grabbed Cassidy’s hand, and pulled her inside.

Cassidy, Dylan, and Justin ducked behind the counter. As the frightened girl grabbed her cell phone to dial 911, Carner jumped back into his truck and sped away.

On the asphalt outside the store, Sharrel’s life was draining away. She’d been shot through the lungs, and her breath came ragged and hard. A bystander went to her aid. The Texas Globe News reported that “Angel Quezada, who witnessed the shooting and the struggle that led up to it, held Blankenbaker's hand and prayed for her as she lost consciousness. He said the woman's last words were about her grandchildren and protecting them from harm.”

Within thirty minutes, Carner was also dead. After leaving the convenience store, he encountered two eleven-year-old girls walking toward their homes. Investigators said he kidnapped one of the girls at gunpoint. Shortly after abducting her, Potter County Deputy Steve White spied Carner's truck at the corner of Jim Line Road and Blessen Road. As the deputy approached in his police cruiser, the kidnapped girl leaped out of the passenger door and landed in a ditch. A police report stated that Carner “attempted to flee, shots were fired and the deputy returned fire. The suspect was struck and did die at the scene. The girl suffered scrapes and abrasions from the fall and was taken to a local hospital. She was treated and released.”

Who was Gary Don Carner?

Unlike so many suspects in these kinds of cases, he’d never been charged with a violent crime. He lived in a comfortable home and had a loving family. Carner had been arrested twice: once for a DUI and once for writing a bad check. However, he seemed an unusual suspect for such a violent rampage. (In addition to the crimes mentioned above, police allege that he attempted to abduct a woman outside another convenience store just before his attack on Cassidy Blankenbaker.)

Potter-Randall Special Crimes Sgt. Kevin Dockery spoke to reporters about Carner. “I’m not sure what he was thinking and what was going on,” he said. “We don’t know. The family I don’t think has a clue either. I don’t know if we’re ever going to really know.”

At another press conference, Dockery said, “I just got done visiting with his family. They have no idea why [Carner] did what he did. There’s no history of things like this. His family is shocked, too.”

Who was Sharrel Blankenbaker?

According to newspaper reports, Sharrel was a farm girl from Oklahoma. “She loved her garden,” her son Justin said. “[She and her husband Dale] produced all their own fruits and vegetables. They canned. They survive off that. They put it all up and eat off that all winter.”

Sharrel and Dale had three sons and eight grandchildren.

At her funeral, Cassidy spoke to the audience: “She was the kind of woman I think everyone should be. She would be there for you no matter what.”

Sharrel Blankenbaker proved that in her last dying act.

Pulp Detective Magazines

Wild Bride Gets Her Fill...of Murder
by Robert A. Waters

About a year ago, I found a box of 50 pulp magazines at a yard sale. The seller was asking only $ 4.00 for the whole box so I paid her and rushed away before she could change her mind. In the 1970s and 1980s, I would sometimes buy True Detective, Detective Dragnet, Inside Detective, and Official Detective. Because of the racy pictures and the screaming titles, I always felt a little sleazy going to the counter to pay--it didn’t help when my wife would whisper, “The cashier’s going to think you’re a serial killer.” But there really were some great true crime stories inside those blood-drenched covers.

From the time the first pulps were published in the 1890s, they were among the most popular form of entertainment in America. For ten cents (and later, two bits), readers could escape from world wars and a Depression and lose themselves in romance, adventure, science fiction, crime, fantasy, and horror. The magazines were popular in hobo jungles and homeless camps and among blue collar workers. No member of the reigning literati would be caught dead with a copy, of course, but the pulps and their authors are remembered today while many of the best-sellers of the time are well-forgotten.

Some of the world's finest writers worked for the pulps. Ray Bradbury, Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan), Isaac Asimov, Robert Bloch (Psycho), Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour, Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), and Tennessee Williams were just a few of the authors who used the pulps to survive the hard years.

After decades of languishing as a red-haired step-child in the world of literature and art, the magazines have come into their own. Now they’re studied in universities and collectors pay high prices for rare issues.

The true detective magazines were known for their colorful titles: “Bedsheet Strangling of the Nude Nymph”, “Who Deep-Sixed the Naked Blonde?”, and “Hooker Was Butchered Like a Pig” are just three examples.

Unfortunately, the detective pulps no longer exist. I bought my last copy sometime in the mid-1990s (much to the relief of my wife), although they may have staggered along for a few more years. Television and the Internet and rising costs dealt the death-knell to the pulps.

Here are a few of my favorite titles from the world of pulp.

“The Pretty Farm Girl Practiced Pest Control by Plugging Her Lover.”

“Tale of the Ozark Maniacs.”

“A Gloved Rapist Stalked the Streets of ‘Strangle Town’.”

“Strangled Nude on the Ninth Green.”

“15 Minutes of Murder Cooled Mr. Hormones.”

When Crime Strikes Home

Joseph Doody, suspect in the robbery of my wife
My wife was robbed yesterday in a brazen daylight attack
by Robert A. Waters

This will be a detailed account of a robbery that happened to my wife a few hours ago. Marilyn and I have been married for almost 38 years. We’ve worked hard all our lives and never had any type of run-in with the law. I’ve published four crime-related books but, except for a house burglary many years ago, have never been an actual crime victim.

Marilyn is originally from Tennessee. She’s known for her sense of humor and friendliness. After we graduated from college, we moved to my home town of Ocala, Florida. Last year, after working for thirty-one years as a teacher in nearby Levy County, she retired. We consider ourselves to be gentle, decent people--what cops call low-risk crime subjects.

On July 30, 2010, however, that changed.

At about 5:00 p.m., we drove to a local Walgreen’s, located at the corner of Silver Springs Boulevard and Northeast 8th Avenue. I needed to pick up a prescription and Marilyn had a couple of items she wanted to buy. I parked in a space about fifteen feet from the plate-glass doors at the entrance of the store. As we entered, I noticed a man standing just outside the door.

I picked up my medicine, then handed Marilyn my brown leather Tommy Hilfiger wallet so she could pay for her items. I told her that I planned to go back out and wait in the car and read. When I walked back outside, I noticed the same man still standing near the front door. I didn't think much about it and got in my car where I had a perfect view of the entrance to the store and the people entering and leaving.

A few minutes later, Marilyn walked out.

Suddenly, the man standing in front of the door rushed toward my wife and grabbed her. I was horrified to watch Marilyn struggling with a stranger. My heart sank--she’d fallen a couple of years earlier and broken both wrists. I knew her hands were not strong, yet she kept fighting with the man. From a distance, it looked as if she was flailing as he attempted to control her.

After the initial shock, I threw open the door of the car and raced toward the scene. My fear was that Marilyn would fall again or that her assailant would knock her down. I prayed that he didn’t have a weapon.

I planned to try to intervene but had only gone a few steps when the assailant raced away. Marilyn began to scream: “He stole my wallet! He stole my wallet! He stole my wallet!” It was the best thing she could have done as it alerted everyone within hearing distance that a crime had occurred.

Two bystanders chased after her attacker. One was a man driving a pickup truck. The second was a woman whom we later learned was an off-duty cop. In the meantime, store employees called 911.

I checked to make sure Marilyn was okay. She was breathing hard and I was stressed from the run across the parking lot, but neither of us was hurt. We walked back into the store and waited. In less than two minutes, the first officer arrived. She was an attractive brunette who had a nurturing manner about her.

As she took the information, she asked the manager to check the store’s video-tape. Other officers arrived and store personnel informed them that the robber had been in the store earlier in the day. They stated that he’d unsuccessfully attempted to get a refund for two pregnancy kits. Two days earlier, the manager had asked him to leave the premises because he was harassing older patrons.

In my missing billfold was $72.00 in cash, my driver’s license, a debit card, a Medicare card, insurance card, and other such items. Marilyn and I described the billfold to the officer. Then the manager informed us that he had found a video-tape that showed the presumed assailant standing around outside. Although at that time we were unable to view a tape of the actual robbery, we did see film showing the suspect in the same area where he attacked Marilyn. We also saw a clear, color video of him attempting to get a refund for the pregnancy kits.

Other Ocala Police Department officers arrived, including a detective. Marilyn and I were beginning to calm down although we were still stunned by the attack. The detective asked if we would be able to wait at the store for a few minutes to see if they could catch the robber--if so, they wanted us to try to identify him.

After another half-hour or so, we were notified that officers had detained a possible suspect about three blocks from the store. We piled into the back seat of the detective’s unmarked car and were driven to the scene. Marilyn and I both identified the suspect as her attacker and he was arrested.

At that point, we were transported back to our car. We stopped at Zaxby’s for a bite to eat and debriefed ourselves. Finally, we went home feeling lucky that Marilyn wasn’t injured.

Shortly after ten o’clock that night, there was a knock on our door. A smiling police officer handed me my wallet. It had my money and driver's license and cards inside. I could hardly believe it.

Marilyn and I were informed that the suspect had allegedly confessed to the robbery and had directed officers to the location where he’d discarded the wallet. He stated that as he fled the scene, he’d pulled out the cash and dropped the billfold beside a nearby house. In addition to the confession, the Walgreen’s manager had finally found a video showing the actual assault.

Joseph Doody was arrested and charged with strong-arm robbery. A check of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office public records revealed that he’d been arrested at least twelve times for offenses such as grand theft auto, dealing in stolen property, domestic battery, drug possession, and other offenses. In one instance, he allegedly stole $672 from his girlfriend and went on a crack cocaine binge.

Here are a few observations about the day’s events. First, the officers from the Ocala Police Department did outstanding work. In my blogs, I’m sometimes critical of law enforcement, but these officers were professional, well-trained, and highly-motivated to find the assailant and my wallet. My wife and I can’t thank them enough.

The staff at Walgreen’s was very supportive. The manager spent a couple of hours viewing the videos and assisting police in their investigation. Other personnel gave us encouragement and attended to our immediate needs.

We are also thankful to the young man and the off-duty police officer who chased after the suspect. They were able to give detectives a direction in which to narrow their search.

I’m proud of the way my wife reacted. She raised the cry that sent civilians and police officers on the trail of the suspect.

Most of all, we’re thankful to be safe and uninjured. We feel fortunate the incident turned out the way it did.

During the episode, my wife’s sense of humor did not entirely vanish. As police officers questioned her, she noticed a dirty spot on the collar of her blouse. She said, “If I’d known I was going to get robbed I’d have dressed a little better.” Everyone had a good laugh and we knew she was okay after that.

Finally, this blog is written entirely from my point of view. The suspect has not been found guilty and will be presumed innocent by the courts until his guilt is proven.

NOTE: Joseph Doody pled guilty to the robbery and received two years in prison. We hope he has beaten his addiction and is leading a productive life.

Rampage at Soda Butte

Recent Bear Attacks
by Robert A. Waters

It’s a fine line between humans encroaching on the territory of predatory animals and enjoying the wonders of nature. We love our state and national parks but sometimes danger lurks. Here are a few examples.

On July 28, at around 2:00 a.m., a bear attacked three campers at the Soda Butte Campground in southern Montana. Kevin Kammer, 48, was killed and two others were badly mauled. Kammer, who was in the area to fly-fish, had pitched a tent and was likely sleeping when the animal pounced.

The campground is near Yellowstone National Park.

After the rampage, Fish, Wildlife & Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim addressed the media. “The campsites are being combed for evidence,” he said. “We’re not certain if it was one bear or more than one, and we haven’t determined if it was a grizzly or a black bear. We’ve extracted DNA samples from evidence found on this site. This will help us identify the bear or bears involved, once captured.”

It was later announced that a mother bear and two cubs had returned to the scene and were captured. If it can be proven that she was the killer, the mother bear will be euthanized and the cubs sent to zoos.

In yet another attack, TV personality Jack Hannah fought off a charging bear by using pepper spray. He was hiking with a group in Montana’s Glacier National Park when they encountered a mother bear and two cubs. One of the cubs rushed toward him, forcing Hannah to launch three bursts of spray at the bear. The final burst did the trick and the cub turned and ran off.

All of these victims had used precautions to minimize the risk of attack. The campers left no food which would have attracted bears. Hannah and the other hikers were on a trail talking loudly so the wildlife would be aware of their presence--experts say that this will generally keep bears away.

A month earlier, Erwin Frank Evert, 70, was attacked and killed in Shoshone National Park, again near Yellowstone. Evert was a botanist who took bear warnings seriously. In this case, authorities say a sign that warned of the presence of bears had been removed before Evert arrived. The animal that attacked Evert had been trapped and tranquilized by researchers a few hours earlier then released near the spot where it attacked the elderly man. The bear was tracked and killed by park rangers.

The natural wonders of earth can be exhilarating.

They can also be deadly.

Murder on Doolan Creek

Rosie Grover’s sad death
by Robert A. Waters

At 4:35 a.m., on the morning of July 19, 1985, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher in Ukiah took a call from a frightened fifteen-year-old girl. Rosie Grover had just gotten off a Greyhound bus and was calling from a pay phone at the depot. She’d borrowed a quarter from another passenger so she could make a call to her mother. The sleeping woman, however, was not expecting her daughter at that time of night and didn’t hear the phone ringing.

After trying to call home several times, Rosie decided to phone the Highway Patrol. Surely they would help. She told the dispatcher that she was stranded and needed a ride home. She was returning that night after visiting family members in San Francisco, Rosie explained. In the darkness, she was afraid to walk the deserted road to her house.

We don’t provide rides, the dispatcher retorted. Call the local police.

The dispatcher hung up.

The thin slight girl with the pretty smile would have to walk home after all. She’d run out of quarters.

She’d also run out of luck.

Later that morning, Richard Dean Clark entered the Ron-Dee-Voo Restaurant in Ukiah. He wore mirrored sunglasses and carried a half-empty wine cooler. Handing it to the waitress, he said, “There’s a body down by the creek.” Pausing for effect, he added, “She’s hurt bad, maybe raped.” Witnesses later said that he seemed calm and sober.

The regulars in the small, family-owned restaurant barely knew Clark. In fact, he’d only been in town for four months. He’d been hired as a caregiver for a local paraplegic but the two spent most of their time boozing it up and ingesting copious amounts of pot, crack, and meth.

While the waitress called 911, several patrons rushed outside. There in the rocky, dry bed of Doolan Creek, they saw the body of Rosie Grover. Her face had been battered to an unrecognizable pulp.

A few minutes later, investigators arrived. Walking down the bank behind the restaurant, they examined the girl’s body. She was fully clothed, wearing jeans and a shirt. Cops saw that the victim’s belt had been loosened and her jacket and blouse were open, leaving her breasts exposed. A duffel bag and a small suitcase sat beside her.

Two blood-stained concrete blocks lay just a few feet from Rosie’s head.

Cops cordoned off the area and began interviewing those at the scene. Who is this girl? they asked. No one knew.

Richard Clark was one of the first witnesses they spoke with. He stated that he was walking to a convenience store to buy cigarettes when he spotted the body. He thought the dead girl may have been stabbed, he said.

The waitress handed investigators the wine cooler Clark had brought into the restaurant. When they opened the duffel bag next to the corpse, detectives found another wine cooler identical to the one Clark had.

He was taken to the station for a further interview. As cops began to grill him, Clark denied killing the girl, who had still not been identified. He first said he didn’t know anything about the murder and had merely stumbled onto the scene. In his second statement, he stated that he met the girl as she walked along the road and had consensual sex with her. Afterward, she told Clark she planned to report him for rape, he said, so he killed her.

In a final statement, taped by police, Clark said he thought he may have killed her but was so drunk he blacked out and didn’t remember the actual deed.

An autopsy confirmed that the dead girl had been raped and battered. A court document reads: “Ten stab wounds were found on the body. Eight were superficial. Two deeper wounds were inflicted in the middle of the back, one of which penetrated a lung and the other the heart. The wounds could have been inflicted by a screwdriver found in Smith's car. These wounds preceded the blunt trauma injuries to the victim's head and neck. While either of the deep stab wounds could have independently caused the victim's death, the actual cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and neck. Although [Medical Examiner Dr. Boyd] Stephens was unable to determine how many blows had been struck, 19 separate areas of blunt trauma were visible. The vast majority of these trauma injuries would have independently caused death. The damage was so extensive that the victim's entire facial structure was collapsed and flattened. The two pieces of concrete found near the victim's body could have inflicted the trauma to the skull.”

Finally, the victim was identified as Rosie Grover.

A series of unfortunate events had brought her to this place. She’d visited family members for several weeks in San Francisco. When she was ready to return home, a friend in Ukiah had agreed to meet Rosie at the bus depot and transport her home. But the friend’s car had broken down and her telephone was out of order. Since Rosie’s mother expected her daughter to come home with the friend, she went to bed and didn’t wake up until later in the morning. After discovering Rosie missing, she contacted the police.

Although DNA wasn’t available at the time, blood enzymes found on Clark’s clothing and shoes were consistent with that of the victim. A sharpened screwdriver in his possession had blood on it, but the sample was so small it couldn’t be tested. Clark’s fingerprints were found on Rosie’s suitcase. The wine coolers, bought by Rosie as a present for her mother, were the same brand. Semen found on the girl’s clothes and body “could not be eliminated” as having come from the suspect. That evidence, along with the taped confession, sealed his fate.

Investigators believe Rosie began walking home after the Highway Patrol dispatcher turned down her request for a ride. Along the way, she met Clark, who was walking to a convenience store. He saw the opportunity to rape the lone woman and forced her down to the creek where he assaulted her. Then, in order to silence the victim, he murdered her by slamming concrete blocks on her head and stabbing her with his screwdriver.

The murderer was convicted and sentenced to death. Twenty-five years later, Richard Dean Clark still sits on California’s death row. He is unlikely to be executed for many years to come, if at all.

Rosie Grover’s short life ended because of a series of unfortunate circumstances, not the least of which was the California Highway Patrol dispatcher who refused her request for assistance. I was unable to learn whether the dispatcher was disciplined or fired.

Norma Lopez is Dead

Body Identified
by Robert A. Waters

A week after she was abducted, the body of missing teenager Norma Lopez has been found. A resident in Moreno Valley was mowing a field when he discovered the decomposed remains.

While investigators did not release the cause of death, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Joseph Borja stated that Norma was identified through dental records. She lay face down in a grove of trees, and was wearing only her blue jeans.

After the kidnapped girl's parents were notified, Borja held a press conference. “I believe this has been made personal because we all have children,” he said. “It’s probably our worst nightmare that our kids can just be taken from a street and killed. We haven’t caught the suspect who killed Norma so obviously there is at least a murderer out there. So I would be vigilant, I would be aware. If I was a parent, I would keep track of my children.”

Cops have few leads. They are still searching for a green SUV seen speeding from the area where Norma was kidnapped. Investigators are asking the public for help and a reward of $35,000 has been offered.

Yesterday, after hearing that Norma's body had been found, stunned friends and neighbors gathered at Valley View High School. "We've had so many kids come in,” Principal Kristen Hunter said, “that I had to call the district to bring in the crisis response team. It was heartbreaking to see how much pain they were in. Some of them went to school with Norma since elementary school. They were hitting their fists on the table, saying ‘Why? Why?’”

Others gathered at the bleachers for an impromptu memorial for Norma. "I just want to say I miss you, Norma,” Caroline Benjamin said. “Nobody deserves this. She could have changed the world one day."

Missing in California

Norma Lopez was wearing this black and white blouse when she went missing

The Search for Norma Lopez
by Robert A. Waters

In Los Angeles, Lola, an African gray parrot, is missing. The bird flew its coop on June 28. Searchers have combed the Hollywood hills for weeks looking for the lost bird. There have been possible sightings of a parrot that looks like Lola, but nothing definite has been found to confirm that she is still in the area. Traveling billboards, like Amber Alerts, roll up and down the streets advising the populace about the runaway. Lola’s owners have even contacted a psychic who recommended having a séance to try to summon the spirit of the missing bird.

There was no Amber Alert for Norma Lopez, although in all fairness, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department jumped on the case as soon as they were notified. On July 15, the seventeen-year-old student vanished on her way home from Valley View High School after taking a summer class.

Shortly after ten that morning, Norma began walking home. She headed south on Nason Street. After turning onto Dracaea Avenue, Norma took a shortcut through a field. She was just a few hundred yards from her home on Cottonwood Avenue when she disappeared. She wore a black and white sleeveless blouse and dark blue “skinny” jeans.

Norma’s sister, Sonja, and a friend, were waiting for her to arrive. Sergeant Joe Borja of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, described what happened next. “[Norma] had plans to meet her sister and another friend,” he said. “When she didn’t arrive, they began looking for her. They looked for approximately two hours. They looked in the dirt field and along the trail that she normally walks through and found some property belonging to her.”

There were signs of a struggle, Borja said. Although he wouldn’t divulge to reporters what items were found, he stated that "they’re personal belongings and they do belong to her. We’ve confirmed that. [Norma] has never been in trouble [and] she’s never run away in the past.”

He concluded that she had likely been abducted.

Searchers combed the neighborhood, then branched out into the hills surrounding the community. Detectives spoke with possible witnesses and learned that a newer-model green SUV was seen speeding from the area at about the time of Norma’s disappearance.

A $ 7,500 reward has been posted.

Norma’s sister is the spokeswoman for the family. “We miss her and we want her home safe,” Sonja said at a recent news conference.

Here’s hoping Norma Lopez comes home soon.

And here’s also hoping that Lola, the wayward yet much-loved parrot, will return to her grieving family.

Four Cold Cases Solved by DNA

Mia Zapata

Bloodthirsty
by Robert A. Waters

Time ticks away, each day lonelier than the last. Those days morph into years and the years decades. For families of unsolved murders, hope fades and loneliness hardens into despair. Then comes a phone call or a knock on the door--DNA has identified a killer. Here are four long-cold cases solved by DNA.

1—Death of a Rock Star. Louisville-born Mia Zapata was on the verge of stardom. The founder and lead singer of a punk rock band named The Gits, she had re-located to Seattle, Washington where she had scheduled a national tour to promote her music. On July 7, 1993, at about 2:00 a.m., Zapata left the Comet Tavern and began walking home. An hour later, her body was found on a deserted street. She’d been beaten, raped, and strangled to death, then posed in what detectives called a “Christ-like position.” Investigators could find no witnesses and no suspects. In 2003, a DNA profile that had been obtained from Zapata’s body was placed into a national databank. The profile matched a career criminal named Jesus Mezquia. The Cuban-born laborer had a long history of assaulting women, as well as arrests for burglary and domestic violence. After more than ten years of walking free, Mezquia was convicted of Zapata’s murder and sentenced to 36 years in prison.

2—Justice Denied. It took 34 years, but the 1976 murder of Marcia Lynn Christian was finally solved. The victim, of Newhall, California, had gone for a job interview and never returned home. “[Mrs.] Christian was sexually assaulted in her own car,” said Captain Paul Becker of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Office. “Hikers...spotted her buried with her hand exposed.” A blanket found in Christian’s car was stored for decades in an evidence room. It was recently sent to a lab and tested for DNA. The resulting profile was placed into a California databank where it matched Mark David Jackson. The killer, however, would never be brought to justice. He’d died of a drug overdose in 1997. Jackson had committed numerous crimes in his life, including kidnappings, rapes, and child molestations. He’d spent decades behind bars. This is one of the oldest cases in California to be solved by the use of DNA.

3-Why We Have the Death Penalty. On November 14, 1978, Armida Wiltsey left her house to go for a jog. A few hours later, her body was found off a running trail near Contra Costa, California. Wiltsey, a forty-year-old housewife, had been assaulted in a blitzkrieg attack. Police said she fought savagely for her life, however, and they recovered evidence from underneath her fingernails. At the time, it was of little value, but detectives saved the nail clippings. Cops focused their investigation on a man who had been convicted of murdering three other women, but were unable to find evidence to link him to the murder. Finally, in 2000, detective Roxanne Gruenheid pulled out the cold case and sent the clippings to the lab. DNA was extracted and matched to a long-time criminal named Darryl Kemp. In 1957, he’d been sentenced to death for the rape and murder of Marjorie Hipperson. Fifteen years later, however, the Supreme Court struck down the death penalty, resulting in the eventual freeing of thousands of murderers across the country. Kemp was one of those. Within a few days after winning his freedom, police theorize that he confronted Wiltsey on the jogging trail, abducted and raped her, and strangled her death. In 2009, Darryl Kemp was again sentenced to death by a California court.

4—The Killer with Satan’s Name. This was the very first case in which DNA was used to convict a murderer. It also provided the first exoneration of an innocent man. On November 21, 1983, in Leicestershire, England, fifteen-year-old Lynda Mann was raped and murdered as she walked a lonely path home from a friend’s house. Three years later, Dawn Ashworth, 15, was also raped and murdered on the same path. Richard Buckland, 17, was charged. Except for a shaky, coerced confession, however, cops had no evidence. Investigators decided to try a new technology to strengthen their case. A local university professor named Alec Jeffreys had developed something called “genetic fingerprinting” and was asked to test semen collected from the two girls. Dr. Jeffreys found that the DNA profiles matched the same offender--but he was not Buckland. After collecting blood samples from most of the male population in the village, Colin Pitchfork was arrested. A convicted sex offender, his DNA profile matched that of the killer. Pitchfork quickly confessed and was sentenced to life in prison. The story is told in Joseph Wambaugh’s classic book, The Blooding.