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Show The Salt Lake Tribune UTAH/NATION Sunday, Kidnap-Murder: aree-wev ela lies ito)at Many Details Children snatched from their bedroomsvia a window But Few Clues @ From Previous Page have beensold bythe utility. The truck has not been found. A vagrantliving in a field near the complex was interviewed, but he is not considered a suspect. Then there were tips from people who hopeto pin the crime on others whem they donotlike. For example, a Kearns resident offered the name of a man who had been making moves on his wife. “I hope it’s him and I hope youget him,” the caller spouted. Pahl checked it out. Nothing. “T just can’t believe the $10,000 reward hasn’t generated more phonecalls from somebody who knows something,” Pahl said. @® Aug. 13, 1995: Rosie Tapia, 6, apparently was abducted. The git's bedroom window was openandhersister and brother, 4-year-old twins, were sleeping in the same room. Her bodywasfound in a Salt Lake City canal 8 April 23, 1994: A drifter climbed through a bedroom window in Vero Beach, Fla., abducted a 7-year-old girl, sexually assaulted her and let her go. Bobby Ray Cornett was giventhree life sentences © Oct. 20, 1993: Near Houston, a man brokeinto a 16-year-old's bedroom, took her out through a window, moiested her andlet her go. Trialis pending Before the Murder: Rosie’s mother, Lewine Tapia, and her father, Roberto Tapia, went dancing at La Frontera Cafe and har the night of Saturday, Aug. 12. Lewine’s daughter, Emilia Elizondo, 18, was baby-sitting Rosie and 4-year-old twins, Robert and @ Oct. 1, 1993: A man crawledthrough a bedroom window in Petaluma, Calif. and abducted Polly Klaas, 12, during a slumberparty. She was chokedto death. Richard Allen Davis supposedly confessed. Trial pending @ May27, 1992:David Lee Thompson, 42, removeda bedroom-window screen at a Biuffion, Ind., home, and abducted a 5-year-old girl. He sexually assaulted her, then returned herto her home. He pleaded guilty to that abduction and several others (see 11 and 13) Angelica. 8 July 12, 1982: Kelly J. Coon, 27, of Menasha, Wis., was released from Emilia said she put the three children to bed at 9:30 p.m. She left the window open becauseit was hot in their basement apartment. Lewine and Roberto got home around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Lewine said. She wentinto the children’s bedroom, kissed them gently and pulled the window closed. But the lateh didn’t cateh. And she said she was afraid to pull it tight, fearing the click would wake her children. But Lewine remembers drawing the curtain closed. She left the children’s bedroom door open and wentto bed. Around 5:30 a.m. something woke her up. She walked through jail for sexually assaulting a cow. Hours later he removedthe screen frorn a neighbor'strailer, abducted Amy Breyer, 2, raped and killed her. He was sentenced to life plus 60 years June 25, 1992: In West Pittsburgh, Calif., Tracy Arthur Stone slipped throughthe open bedroom windowof a 6-year-old, injected her with a drug, repeatedly raped herelsewhere and retumed her to her home. She described his tattoos, which police traced through jail bookinglogs. He wasconvictedof that crime andthe March 30, 1992, sexual assault of a 9-month-old Concord girl. He entered the baby's home through an open door. He also was a suspect in an April 1992 abduction in nearby Pleasant Hill (see 9) @ April 25, 1992: Johnny Ray Johnson climbed throughhis neighbor's window in Oakwook,Ga., and carried a 5-year-old out the door. Her 3-year-old sister wassleepingin the same bed. He sodomized the older girl and let hergo. Police traced him through a fingerprint. He was sentenced to life plus 70 years @ Aprit 21, 1992: A 2-year-old Pleasant Hill, Calif, girl was snatched from ually molested and let go. Tracy Arthur Stone wasconvicted of kidnapping two othergirls in the area, but not prosecutedforthis crime (see7) D March 18, 1992:A 6-year-old was kidnapped from her Phoenix home and sexually assaulted. Her throat was slashed, but she survived. Police believe the unknown suspect entered through her bedroom window. Oct. 1, 1991: A mancut the phoneline to a Marshall, Il , home, slipped througha 5-year-old's bedroom window andcarried her out. He sexually assaulted her and dropped her off 100 miles fromhome. David Lee Thompson, 42, is awaiting trial and has pleaded guilty to other abductions (see 5 and 13). ® Sept. 12, 1991: Heather Dawn Church, 13, was abducted from her home near Colorado Springs. Police thought she had run away, butlater Diego. and sexually assaulted her. Alicia's father, Jim Wade, was charged whena therapist convinced her to sayhe had molestedher. Alicia was placed in a foster home. But DNAtesting of previously overlooked semen stains convicted Carder. Wade won $3.7 millionin a lawsuit against the therapist and others. ©® May 11, 1988: Cries of an 18-month-old Burbank, Calif, child awakened his parents at 1:10 a.m. They foundthe boy unharmed,but his 5-year-old sister was gone and her bedroom window had been forced open. She was found on a street 26 minutes later. She had been sexualiy assaulted. The case is unsolved @ June 27, 1985: A 6-year-old Arcadia, Calif., girl was abducted from her bedroorn by a man who wentthrough her window. Hourslater, the child was found on a Los Angelesstreet wearing her pajamas, the man's socks and a windbreaker that police believe the kidnapper gave her. She had been sexually assaulted. The case is unsolved Steve Baker! The Salt Lake Tribune Photos Tell the Story: Crime Individuals with varying degrees of myopia (nearsightedness) are needed to participate in an investigational studyof the Excimer Laser. 2 costfor the procedure: $1800 per eye MORAN EVECENTER for more information limited byfederal law to investigationaluse in the U.S. garten class. “My name is Rosa Maria,” reads one page. “I am 6 years old. I am me! I grow in my own way. ButI will still be me!” At home, Rosie rode her pink BMXbicycle on the grass in front of her apartmentor played in the complex’s playground, making sure to check in every half hour. “Wedidn’t let her go too far,” her mother said. Rosie spent mostof her time inside with her youngerbrother and sister. They wrestled in the living room, played Donkey Kong on Nintendo, combedthe hair of the girls’ Barbie dolls, danced to Mexican music on the radio or watched television. Rosie’s favorite TV show was “Rescue 911.” She loved to fake an injury, fall to the floor and yell, “Oh, I’m hurt. Dial 9-1-1.” Rosie had decided she wanted to be a cop when she grew up. A Family History: Rosie's mother, Lewine Tapia, 39, works full time for Todd Corp., a Salt Lake City uniform-rental company. She was born in Grand Junetion, Colo., and moved to Salt Lake City when she was 14. Herfirst husband was Javier Elizondo. They were married June 25, 1977, in Wendover, Nev., and had two daughters, Esmeralda and Emilia. Lewine divorced Javier in 1985, and he now lives in Texas. Nine years ago, Lewine met her second husband, Roberto Tapia Cordova, during a dance at The Rose Barin Salt Lake City, which is now called the Durango. Heis 37 and builds swimmingpools for Rocky Mountain Pools Inc. in Sandy. He was born in Sonora, Mexico. Rosie was the couple's first child. And the twins followed soon after. ‘ Roberto Tapia, a quiet man, stood behind his wife and clasped her shoulders during television interviews focused on Rosie's disappearance. He is kind and friendly with his childre«, not afraid to beyishly squirt his son with a giant water pistol — even while inside his apartment. Lewine’s eldest daughter, Esmeralda Elizondo, 20, is a single mother who, when she was 16, dropped out of high school be cause she was pregnant. She lives with the Tapias and shares a room with her 3-year-old daughter Alisa. But Esmeralda andAlisa, fearful of another kidnapping, have been sleeping on the living room floorsince Rosie’s murder, Lewine’s second daughter, Emilia Elizondo, 18, dropped out of West High School after her junior year. Tapia family members have been cooperating fully with police, Pahl said. They have provided fingerprints to match against thoselifted from Rosie's window, and have found chies in Rosie's room. Pahl has run criminal-background checks on Rosie’s mother and father. The only time the two were ever in serious trouble was in 1989 whenthey were arrested at Roberto Tapia’s Salt Lake City @ See Next Page TheInvestigation: The autoplisted the official cause of death as drowning. But the case was ruled a homicide. Trauma to Rosie’s body was limited to wounds of a sexual nature. She was not stabbed, nor wasshe beaten,said Capt. Norm Thompson, who supervises Salt Lake City police detectives. Investigators looked for signs Rosie's mouth was taped shut to silence her, They found none. Thekiller may have used chloroform, a clear liquid that, if inhaled, can leave a victim unconscious, Unfortunately, river water would have washed awaytraces of the chemical, said MaureenFrikkee, the pathologist who performed the autopsy. Samples of Rosie’s blood were tested for drugs, but officials are not saying what theydiscovered. The ExcimerLaseris a newsurgical device designed to treat nearsightedness which mayreduce or eliminate your need forglasses or contacts. Caution: The Excimer Laser is an investigationaldevice of the alphabet and worksheets in which Rosie used crayons to trace positive sayings from her kinder- 1200 South. Source: Police and prosecutors nationwide Looking for Another Option to Correct Nearsightedness? tion of drawings, colored letters DET. MICKEY PAHL, Salt Lake City Police surplus canal at 1900 West and sy report, completed last week, ® May 13, 1989: Albert Carderclimbed through the bedroomwindow of 8-year-old Alicia Wade, abducted her from e naval-facility home in San A Twinkling Child: During Rosie’s first week of kindergarten class at Mountain View Elementary School, Cecilia Martinez told her students it was time for recess. Rosie thought it was time to go, and walked seven biocks to her home. Martinez became alarmed when Rosie turned up missing and calied Lewine Tapia at work. Lewine drove home and found her daughter watching television. “T told her neverto leave school until her teacher told her it was /K,”" Lewine said. Later, Rosie became more friendly with Martinez, hugging her teacher before and afterclass each day. They spoke Spanish and English together. Shy and quiet, Rosie would not volunteer to answer questions or stand upin front of the other 24 students — unless Martinez asked for someoneto sing. “She would sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, that was her favorite,”” Martinezsaid. Theteacher usedart andcoloring to build Rosie’s self-confidence. On a shelf in Lewine Tapia’s closet, she has saved Rosie’s handmadenotebook. It is a collec- “61 want to knowif Sait’s a man who hates his . mother because she beat him... 9 it a man or a woman?Is it a man who wants to be a woman??? Rosie’s picture. yard. He sexually assaulted her and put her back in bed. David Lee beneath the window. Her bones were found a monthlater in a canyon. The caseis unsolved of the sheets that night becauseit was so warm. Another photograph shows a bent screen. Under the bed are Rosie’s two new blue-and-purple Coaster’s deck shoes. Toys are seattered on the floor. Rosie was wearing a T-shirt and shorts when pulled from the canal, 2 Sait Lake City detectives do not know where she was sexually assaulted or thrown into theriver. So FBIagents have no pictures of those scenes. Gustavo Ibarra was jogging with his dog at 10:15 a.m, when he spotted Rosie’s body floating in a crawled through a 2-year-old's bedroom window and carried her into the Sept. 24, 1990: in Reno, Nev., 7-year-old Monica DaSilva was apparently abducted from her bedroom, where herbrother, 4, also was sleeping, The screen was pulledout and a scuff mark was found on a wall oldersister said Rosie slept on top to see the children’s door nearly shut. Inside, she saw Rosie was gone. The window was open, the screen removed and Venetian blinds knocked to the floor. She screamedforRosie, but got no response. Lewine called 911 and then phoned family members, whoarrived before dawn to help with a search. Police combed the banks of the Jordan River and drove through the neighborhood. Family members postedfliers at nearby convenience stores with bones were found on a nearby mountain. Robert Charles Browne, a Thompson, 42, has been charged (see § and 11) with the Barney characterstill tucked in on Rosie’s bed. Rosie’s the living room and was surprised determined an intruder camethrough her window. Two years later, her convicted burglar, was sentencedtolife @® May21, 1991: A man cut the phoneline to a Half Moon, N.Y., home, 10, 1995 AUOSUMHE SINE SONI her bed by a man who camein through her window. Her 10-year-old brother, parents and the family's Doberman heard nothing. She was sex- September scene pictures show the sheets or to register for our weekly educational seminar We've made a special purchase of reconditioned Motorola phones. 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