A slain 10-year-old girl's body was found with deep saw marks on her neck,
said authorities who alleged Saturday that her killer had planned to dismember
her and eat the flesh.
Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, shown in this undated
photograph provided by the McClain County Sheriffs Office, was being held
Saturday, April 15, 2006, in the McClain County Jail on a first-degree
murder complaint. The body of missing 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin was
found in Underwoods purcell apartment Friday, police said. Prosecutors
said they expect to file formal charges Monday and that they intend to
seek the death penalty. [AP] |
The family of Jamie Rose Bolin was in shock, not only with the news of her
slaying but with the fact that the suspect is her downstairs neighbor.
Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, was arrested Friday after investigators found
Jamie's body in the closet of a bedroom in his apartment, authorities said. The
girl's unclothed body was inside a large plastic tub, along with a towel used to
soak up blood, officials said.
Purcell police Chief David Tompkins said investigators think the killer hit
her several times with a wooden cutting board, then placed his hand and duct
tape over her mouth to suffocate her. She was sexually assaulted after she died,
officials said.
Tompkins and McClain County District Attorney Tim Kuykendall released the
gruesome details about the final moments of Jamie's life and what they alleged
were Underwood's plans for her body, but they would not say whether Underwood
had confessed to the slaying.
Kuykendall said that Underwood said he began fantasizing about eating someone
a year ago. The prosecutor added that authorities believe "that while she was
ultimately chosen to be the victim of this horrific crime, that other people had
been targeted and considered," including a a woman and a 5-year-old boy.
A preliminary autopsy report said the girl died from blunt force trauma to
the head and asphyxiation.
"Regarding a potential motive, this appears to have been part of a plan to
kidnap a person, rape them, torture them, kill them, cut off their head, drain
the body of blood, rape the corpse, eat the corpse, then dispose of the organs
and bones," the police chief said.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agents seized a decorative dagger, a
hack saw, duct tape, meat tenderizer, barbecue skewers, a duffel bag, the
cutting board, a computer, and a videotape about a serial killer, Tompkins said.
Police think Jamie died Wednesday, the day she was last seen at the library
in Purcell, about 20 miles south of Oklahoma City. She was reported missing that
night.
"Jamie was in the apartment below us the whole time," said Rose Fox, Jamie's
grandmother. "The only reason that he couldn't move the body and hide it was
because somebody was out there the whole time, either on the balcony smoking or
standing in front of the apartment.
Authorities said they became suspicious of Underwood when he pulled up to a
check point set up near the apartment complex two days after the girl was
reported missing.
"He was an occupant of a vehicle. He just wasn't acting right," said Oklahoma
Highway Patrol trooper Kera Philippi. "From there, they talked to him and the
FBI took him into questioning."