GUILTY CA - Sara Hodges, 7, found murdered, Newhall, 23 March 1989

LinetteH

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Not sure if this is the correct place for this but here goes.

My family moved to Redlands, CA in 1986. My father and three sisters rented an apartment in Redlands the first year and a half or so they were there. During that time (near that time?) a teenaged boy murdered a young girl in the apartment complex they all lived in.

As I remember it, the little girl had come over to play with his little sister and he was the only one home. If I remember correctly he molested her, killed her and then his her body in his waterbed--a case eerily similar to the Florida case from a couple years ago but this happened year earlier and in California. I actually remember reading about it in a book in 1993 when we were in England (the book was about kids who killed).

For the life of me I cannot remember the names associated with this case and I do not remember what punishment the kid received. The crime would have happend in 1987, possibly 1988...any idea??
 
I just e-mailed the local newspaper in REdlands to see if they could assist me. This si the first "true crime" case that ever touched my life and it's changed how I look at the world ever since. You would think I could remember more information!
 
Not sure if this is the correct place for this but here goes.

My family moved to Redlands, CA in 1986. My father and three sisters rented an apartment in Redlands the first year and a half or so they were there. During that time (near that time?) a teenaged boy murdered a young girl in the apartment complex they all lived in.

As I remember it, the little girl had come over to play with his little sister and he was the only one home. If I remember correctly he molested her, killed her and then his her body in his waterbed--a case eerily similar to the Florida case from a couple years ago but this happened year earlier and in California. I actually remember reading about it in a book in 1993 when we were in England (the book was about kids who killed).

For the life of me I cannot remember the names associated with this case and I do not remember what punishment the kid received. The crime would have happend in 1987, possibly 1988...any idea??

eta: he might have his her body in the trash--I think the two cases are running together in my head after all these years!
 
I just read something about a boy today who killed a little girl and put her in his waterbed headboard or behind it and put a fan in the window to clear out the smell,it was the landlord who found her body..Is that the story-I'll see if I can find it!
 
http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/curtis-cooper

Sheriff's deputies searching last week for a missing 7-year-old Newhall girl failed to see her body when they checked the bedroom of a 14-year-old boy who lives five doors away, authorities said Monday. Her body was discovered in the bedroom behind a water bed four days later.
The girl, Sara Nan Hodges, is believed to have died in the teen-ager's bedroom Thursday afternoon, hours before deputies looked through the house at the outset of a massive search of the rural Santa Clarita Valley.
An autopsy determined Monday that the blond, blue-eyed girl had been strangled. The boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Her decomposing, fully clothed body was found Sunday afternoon by the boy's landlady, who made the grisly discovery while trying to locate the source of a sickening smell. The boy had set up a fan to blow the odor out an open window and had been sleeping in the room for "a couple of days" since the slaying, according to a sheriff's homicide detective.
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http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-28/local/me-568_1_deputies-search

A Newhall teen-ager, described by his victim's mother as a "monster," was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Friday for sexually molesting and murdering a 7-year-old neighbor, whose body was found stuffed behind his bed three days after she disappeared.


Curtis Cooper, who was 14 when he strangled Sara Nan Hodges in March, will probably spend about 10 years in custody because the California Youth Authority can retain jurisdiction over him only until he reaches the age of 25.


During an emotional sentencing hearing, Linda Hodges, the victim's mother, condemned Cooper's parents for failing to notice early warning signs of his emotional problems.


"Although it is impossible to conceive of a human being involved in such a vile act, it is hard to believe that this boy never showed any signs before this incident," she said, reading from her prepared statement. "I believe that those responsible waited far too long to seek help."




http://articles.latimes.com/1990-01-27/local/me-422_1_crystal-cooper
 
thats horrible.... why is there so many teenagers who are murdering little girls.
 

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