GUILTY WA - Elaine Sepulveda, 15, Oak Harbor, 6 Nov 2004

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To the family and friends of Elaine Sepulveda,

We are deeply sorry for your loss.
My thoughts and especially my prayers are with you all
during this difficult time.

To Elaine, I know you are at peace.
Please know that we are all thinking of you.
Your family loves you and your presence is always here.
Justice will be served. You will be forever with us.

God Bless,

fourboys
 
I hope they bring charges against the grandfather too. He knew of this crime and did nothing while this poor child's parents suffered. What is wrong with people?!
 
Folks,
I just received this email from Elaine's father, I guess you did also if you signed the family guest book previously. Please take a moment and send another message. Elaine and her sister Angela share the same birthday - it is today. Angela is 18, Elaine would have been 16. They are hurting badly, this is a terrible day for them, please send them some comfort.

Some of the links are broken, but I found one at the bottom of the page for the Guest Book that worked.

Verity

-----Original Message-----
From: Juan Jimenez ​
Sent: Wednesday, March 30, 2005 10:34 PM
Subject: UPDATED WEBSITE

​

To All,


I have taken your E-mail out of my Guestbook to create this E-mail list. I am trying this list out to see if it would work for us. What I am trying to accomplish is that every time I have an update I will send an E-mail out with the new information or just simply a link back to our website www.elainesepulveda.com to notify you of a new update. At this point I would like to invite you back to my website to see the new site I have created. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. If you want to be removed from this E-mail list just click unsubscribe on the bottom of this E-mail and I will remove you. Again thank you all for you support.





Today March 30, 2005 is Elaine’s 16th Birthday and Angela’s 18th birthday.

Memorial DVD information.







God Bless
 
Thanks for posting that...I signed the guest book...it's so hard to imagine what the family must be going through :(
 
I love reading these forums. This is the first time I have ever posted on one. This case breaks my heart. Interestingly, both Elaine and James attended the same high school as my daughter. She didn't know Elaine but said that James had once asked her for a date! Thank goodness we haven't allowed her to date yet! Then again, Elaine wasn't actively dating either; she snuck out to meet with James on several occasions. It scares me so to think our children are killing each other. Several kids in the area seem so shocked that James would do such a thing. How can we ever know and protect our daughters?! I must say that I do feel bad for the grandfather. He was clueless; that was why he agreed to the search. Can you imagine finding out there is a little girl in your compost pile? I know that James' father was on a cruise and had to be sent home. When he was told, he cried for hours and said he could not think of one thing he had ever done that would cause his son to be this way. Our entire community grieves for both families. And how I worry about my daughter!
 
I think that the boy's mother deserves a lot of credit. She found that bag of Elaine's clothing in her son's closet the day after the murder. I don't know if she believed her son or not but she did the right thing...she called the police.
Would Jackie Peterson have done that...not on her life. She would have burned it first.

Grandpa was honest with the police about what the boy told him. We don't know when the boy talked to grandpa....it could have been after the police put the boy in jail that he admitted he had hit the girl. His family sounds honorable in my opinion. They did the right things. I hope that the boy's dad has come to realize that he didn't do or not do anything to cause this horrible thing to happen. We don't know if this was a choice the boy made or if it really was an accident. If Elaine was pregnant it really raises a question.

My heart goes out to both families. No matter how hard we try we can't protect our children all of the time. It is especially difficult when your little girl thinks she is in love. If you don't approve of the boy and try to step between them you will often get run over. It seems that the boy is the only person the girl can think of. It's hard being a parent...especially of teenagers these days. Elaine had a curfew and was home on time. She had rules. Her parents were doing the right things. As parents we can only do our best. It sounds like both of these sets of parents were doing their best. God bless all of them.
 
Body of missing Oak Harbor girl found; man, 18, held

By Michael Ko

Seattle Times staff reporter




2002151003.jpg




Elaine Sepulveda's body was found in Oak Harbor.


Police found the body of a missing 15-year-old girl buried in a compost pile behind an Oak Harbor house yesterday morning, hours after they arrested an 18-year-old man whom she had described as her boyfriend.

Elaine Sepulveda was last seen alive Nov. 5 near the naval housing area in Oak Harbor.

Police are investigating an ongoing argument over her pregnancy as a possible motive in her slaying. Documents filed in Island County Superior Court by the Oak Harbor Police Department describe how the man wanted Sepulveda to have an abortion but she refused.

Sepulveda told friends her boyfriend was the father-to-be.

The suspect, who is not being named because he has not been charged, is in Island County Jail for investigation of second-degree murder. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Island County prosecutors have three business days to charge him with a crime.

The break came early yesterday morning when the 18-year-old suspect's grandfather contacted police to turn his grandson in, according to court documents. The grandfather then directed police to his house, near Southeast Regatta Drive and Southeast Sixth Avenue in Oak Harbor. Investigators found the body about 5 a.m.

"We can put her to rest properly," said Sepulveda's mother, Mary Jimenez. "We know in our hearts she's with our Lord Jesus Christ. Please keep our family in your prayers."

Police have interviewed the suspect several times since Sepulveda disappeared. He was the last known person to have seen her alive, and police found some of her clothes at his home.

Investigators believe Sepulveda sneaked out of her house the morning of Nov. 6 and met the suspect at a church next to the grandfather's house.

The suspect lives across town with his mother.

"We believe at that time, that's where she was killed," Oak Harbor police Capt. Rick Wallace said. "Obviously, we've got a long way to go and we've got to prove that speculation on our parts, but that's what we're working toward."


Police said Sepulveda suffered a head injury. The Island County Coroner's Office is expected to finish an autopsy sometime today.

Her family had asked several missing-children advocacy groups for help. Volunteers were preparing yesterday at a local church to begin a weekendlong search when police announced the arrest and discovery.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002151634_missinggirl15m.html
 
Coroner: Murdered Girl Was Not Pregnant



POSTED: 8:57 am PST February 16, 2005


OAK HARBOR, Wash. -- A slain Oak Harbor teen was not pregnant at the time of her death, the Island County Coroner said.

3914823_200X150.jpg
Elaine Sepulveda



The disappearance of Elaine Sepulveda, 15, sparked a two-month search until her body was found on Jan. 14.

An 18-year-old Oak Harbor man described as her boyfriend, James Sanders, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in her death.

Prosecutors have alleged that an aggravating circumstance in the case was Sanders' alleged belief that Sepulveda was pregnant with his child.

However, Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks said that according to the coroner's office, Sepulveda was "not pregnant within the past year."

The cause of death is listed as asphyxia.

If convicted, Sanders could face more than 18 years in prison.
 
This is so sad. I don't know how these men can be SO selfish!
They actually think they will get away with murder because they don't want to take responsibility for their own actions!!!
They don't care about their victims, the families or anyone - just getting themselves out of having to be an adult!!! I think it does speak something about his parents and granparents - they raised him to behave in this fashion! Sure everyone knows that teenagers have sex - but they don't have to kill people when this don't go their way!
It makes me furious, and the poor girl wasn't even pregnant! I wonder if she really thought she was or if she was lying.....
 
I've wondered that, too. Quite possibly she was just saying she was pregnant in an effort to hang onto him. Interestingly, he refused to return some shoes that belonged to the girlfriend he had before Elaine. Then he kept some of Elaine's clothes. Sounds like he could well have become a "trophy-keeping" serial killer. I am glad he was caught. Neighbors said he was often out stirring the compost. SICK, SICK, SICK!!!
 
Any thoughts on HOW a kid could get so messed up as to murder at such a young age? I just don't get it. He seems to have had terrific familiy support throughout his life. He was fairly popular with the girls. One thing that has continued to bother me is how our local paper always mentions that he looks so "frail and afraid". On the one hand, I can't help but want him put away forever but then again, I can't help but think that something must be WAY wrong with him from the get go! He told police that he tried to stop her from committing suicide and accidentally caused a head injury, freaked, and buried her. But there was NO head injury. She was asphyxiated. At first they said buried alived but then later said she was probably dead when buried. Murders are very unusual in our community. It will be interesting to see how this turns out. This is our FIRST murder of a child by a child; hopefully our last as well!
 
Does anyone here have any idea as to how to contact Crime Library? They still have Elaine in their missing section and it just BOTHERS me! The beginning of the trial has been set back to May 17th. I'll keep everyone posted.
 
I finally got Crime Library to remove her from the missing section. Just trying to keep Elaine in everyones thoughts as our community prepares for this trial. If you have not recently visited Elaine's website, please do and sign the guest book. This family really appreciates the concern expressed by others.:(
 
mysteriew said:
James Sanders had been charged with second-degree murder in the death of Elaine Sepulveda. He agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge and was sentenced today in Coupeville to eight-and-half years in prison.

http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/05/03/100wir_sepulveda.cfm
Click to expand...


He only received 8 1/2 years for killing her? That is just bogus. I really hate plea bargins. I'll bet if he would have had a jury trial he would have gotten way more than that. That young girl's life was worth so much more then a lousy 8 1/2 years. Unbelievable. Do you know why they charged him with 2nd degree instead of lst?
 
I was afraid of this all along. Our newspaper repeately called him "frail and afraid." During the search period, Elaine's parents kept saying they thought it might have been an "accident" and they just wanted to know where she was. I think they gave him the idea to claim it was an accident. Interestingly, even though he claimed she hit her head and died, there was NO sign of a head injury. This has been so tricky all along because it is hard not to feel for both of the families. But Elaine wasn't the first girl he kept physical memories of. His previous girlfriend said he would not return her shoes. I still think we may have a tropy-keeping killer on our hands and Lord help us when he is turned loose.:furious:
 
how did he "accidentaly" kill her in order to save her from committing suicide when she clearly died from asphyxiation?

:waitasec:
 
The hardest part of all is that he was always out stirring the compost after he buried her there. I can't stand to think about it for too long. There is quite a bit of empathy for his family here but I had hoped that would not be reflected in the sentence. He will still be young when he is released to start over!
 
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