CA CA - Barbara Rogers, 60, Lakewood, 16 Aug 2005

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This case seems so "atypical" with a very "low risk" victim in a low crime neighborhood. I'm surprised it didn’t receive more attention.

The neighborhood was part of the post war housing boom/suburban sprawl of the 1950's. Most houses are of the cookie cutter/cracker box style but the city of Lakeside and Ann's neighborhood in particular, maintained its upper-middle class character. The area has become more urbanized with some high density housing and some nearby towns developing a more run-down/low income appearance. Her neighborhood remained low crime however. Her home was probably worth around $500K in 2005; probably $370K now.

Her case does not appear to be related to any other crimes in the area. The dismembered woman was found “several miles” away. “The Grim Sleeper’s” M.O. was totally different.

The house was found with the TV and ceiling fan on and the screen removed from a back open window. This suggests the perp broke in while she was awake. It could be a “burglary gone bad” but there was no indication that anything was taken. A burglar with no ties to the victim would not be expected to move the body; but then you never know.

What the little media coverage available indicates that the perp was suspected of being “someone she knew”. Either someone who would sneak in while she was watching TV or someone she would let in who would then “stage” the “break-in”. For a single woman in her 60’s, the motive is more likely financial rather than love/jealousy. The financial motive could be someone due to inherit; but it could be someone that owed her money or someone who she might have had a financial claim against. We don’t know how well her private life was investigated.

The case was initially handled as a missing persons case by the Lakeside PD then turned over to the LA county Sheriffs Dept when it became a murder. It is anyone’s guess how well the home was preserved as a crime scene.

This would be an appropriate case to re-open as a Cold Case. The declining crime rate in LA County has freed up resources so that old cases can be re-opened. There were obviously many people in the community that knew and loved her. What would be needed is renewed media attention.
 
kemo said:
This case seems so "atypical" with a very "low risk" victim in a low crime neighborhood. I'm surprised it didn’t receive more attention.

The neighborhood was part of the post war housing boom/suburban sprawl of the 1950's. Most houses are of the cookie cutter/cracker box style but the city of Lakeside and Ann's neighborhood in particular, maintained its upper-middle class character. The area has become more urbanized with some high density housing and some nearby towns developing a more run-down/low income appearance. Her neighborhood remained low crime however. Her home was probably worth around $500K in 2005; probably $370K now.

Her case does not appear to be related to any other crimes in the area. The dismembered woman was found “several miles” away. “The Grim Sleeper’s” M.O. was totally different.

The house was found with the TV and ceiling fan on and the screen removed from a back open window. This suggests the perp broke in while she was awake. It could be a “burglary gone bad” but there was no indication that anything was taken. A burglar with no ties to the victim would not be expected to move the body; but then you never know.

What the little media coverage available indicates that the perp was suspected of being “someone she knew”. Either someone who would sneak in while she was watching TV or someone she would let in who would then “stage” the “break-in”. For a single woman in her 60’s, the motive is more likely financial rather than love/jealousy. The financial motive could be someone due to inherit; but it could be someone that owed her money or someone who she might have had a financial claim against. We don’t know how well her private life was investigated.

The case was initially handled as a missing persons case by the Lakeside PD then turned over to the LA county Sheriffs Dept when it became a murder. It is anyone’s guess how well the home was preserved as a crime scene.

This would be an appropriate case to re-open as a Cold Case. The declining crime rate in LA County has freed up resources so that old cases can be re-opened. There were obviously many people in the community that knew and loved her. What would be needed is renewed media attention.
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I agree. How do we go about doing that?



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I wonder if she ever hired anyone to help around her home or if anyone in the neighborhood was ever convicted of any crimes like breaking and entering, robbery, etc.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread was when we lived in a neighborhood a few years ago, we had a really nice lady that lived next door. She was probably in her late 50s or early 60s. We had just moved in when she stopped my (then teenage) son outside to ask him to feed her cat while she was out of town and handed him the key to her home. I was floored when he told me because we never met her before and she was trusting a teenage boy with her security.

The reason I mentioned anything about anyone in the area ever having any problems with breaking/entering/ burglary, etc. is that it seems like so many times we see violent criminals had past issues with smaller/petty crimes. Not always, but so many times there is something there. This just seems like it would be someone close by or familiar with Barbara's area. I really hope there is some closure in this case. She looked like she was beautiful from the inside out.
 
LotsaLatte said:
I wonder if she ever hired anyone to help around her home or if anyone in the neighborhood was ever convicted of any crimes like breaking and entering, robbery, etc.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw this thread was when we lived in a neighborhood a few years ago, we had a really nice lady that lived next door. She was probably in her late 50s or early 60s. We had just moved in when she stopped my (then teenage) son outside to ask him to feed her cat while she was out of town and handed him the key to her home. I was floored when he told me because we never met her before and she was trusting a teenage boy with her security.

The reason I mentioned anything about anyone in the area ever having any problems with breaking/entering/ burglary, etc. is that it seems like so many times we see violent criminals had past issues with smaller/petty crimes. Not always, but so many times there is something there. This just seems like it would be someone close by or familiar with Barbara's area. I really hope there is some closure in this case. She looked like she was beautiful from the inside out.
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I see what you mean about handy men or workers, but why would they take her out of her home? That is what I don't get here. She is home, the perp climbs in the window, but WHERE do they go then? Why does he take her away?
 
katydid23 said:
I see what you mean about handy men or workers, but why would they take her out of her home? That is what I don't get here. She is home, the perp climbs in the window, but WHERE do they go then? Why does he take her away?
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That is exactly what never made sense to me either.

Thank you for featuring Barbara, it would be wonderful to get renewed interest in her case.
 
I have lived in the area where Barbara lived. Ashworth St. is the border between Lakewood, Ca & Bellflower, CA. So, I believe Barbara must have lived on the south side of the street to qualify as Lakewood. This area is of Lakewood is not the best and Ashworth & Clark Streets are heavily trafficked roads. I used Ashworth as a shortcut to Los Cerritos Mall. Clark Street is heavily used to get to Lakewood Center Mall.

This is the first I have heard of this case and we are close in age. The San Gabriel River basin is less than 2 miles from her home so the person/s would not have to go far to dump a body. I hope this cold case is reopened and justice is served.
 
There is a lot we don't know. The cause of death? indication of sexual assault?, defensive wounds?

The crime scene tells a story of someone entering the house through a back window while Barbara was watching television; perhaps a burglary gone wrong. This would be very unlikely. Breaking into a house while the occupant sleeps is not that unusual but entering a home when the occupant is known to be awake (and TV light is easily recognized from outside) creates the possibility of a noisy struggle, 911 call, a gun in the home etc. The perp would want until all lights were out. I think one or more of the elements were staged.

Generally, when a stranger kills someone in their home, they will leave the body there. Moving a body is risky and there is no real advantage in delaying the discovery of the body or altering the crime scene. The prime consideration is not to leave any forensic evidence at the crime scene so that you do not become a suspect.

Someone known to the victim would consider him/herself to automatically be a suspect so they would want to put as much separation between themselves and the victim as possible. It is common to remove and conceal the body and to "stage" the crime scene.

If there is no indication of a sexual assault, it was almost certainly someone she knew. If the fatal injury was swift and "clean" it was probably planned and Barbara was taken by surprise. She probably let him in (it was probably a "him") If there were defensive wounds or signs of a struggle, it may not have been planned or she was very afraid of the perp and did not allow him to get close to her.

My own WAG (wild *advertiser censored* guess) is that the perp was a friend, relative, or domestic employee/contractor who had stolen from her or was otherwise in a position where she could make serious trouble.

It is possible that there is a suspect but a case could never be made.

 
katydid23 said:
I see what you mean about handy men or workers, but why would they take her out of her home? That is what I don't get here. She is home, the perp climbs in the window, but WHERE do they go then? Why does he take her away?
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I know, the taking her out the home thing bothers me too. I was thinking maybe to make it look like she "left" or put distance between her and the home for some reason. I think there is so much we don't know. If it was someone that didn't know her at all (stranger) then I would wonder even more why remove her from the home.
I wonder if there was any activity on her ATM card or anything. I may have missed that if it was in the article. It's possible someone took her and tried to get her to use an ATM card but she refused and they lost it. I wish there was more information.
 
kemo said:
There is a lot we don't know. The cause of death? indication of sexual assault?, defensive wounds?

The crime scene tells a story of someone entering the house through a back window while Barbara was watching television; perhaps a burglary gone wrong. This would be very unlikely. Breaking into a house while the occupant sleeps is not that unusual but entering a home when the occupant is known to be awake (and TV light is easily recognized from outside) creates the possibility of a noisy struggle, 911 call, a gun in the home etc. The perp would want until all lights were out. I think one or more of the elements were staged.

Generally, when a stranger kills someone in their home, they will leave the body there. Moving a body is risky and there is no real advantage in delaying the discovery of the body or altering the crime scene. The prime consideration is not to leave any forensic evidence at the crime scene so that you do not become a suspect.

Someone known to the victim would consider him/herself to automatically be a suspect so they would want to put as much separation between themselves and the victim as possible. It is common to remove and conceal the body and to "stage" the crime scene.

If there is no indication of a sexual assault, it was almost certainly someone she knew. If the fatal injury was swift and "clean" it was probably planned and Barbara was taken by surprise. She probably let him in (it was probably a "him") If there were defensive wounds or signs of a struggle, it may not have been planned or she was very afraid of the perp and did not allow him to get close to her.

My own WAG (wild *advertiser censored* guess) is that the perp was a friend, relative, or domestic employee/contractor who had stolen from her or was otherwise in a position where she could make serious trouble.

It is possible that there is a suspect but a case could never be made.

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Kemo, I think you're right on the mark with this. It was someone she knew. In fact, I think it's very possible that she actually left with the person without realizing she was in danger.

I'm not entirely convinced that the screen being out of the window means that the window was used for the crime. I hate to admit this, but maybe ten or twelve years ago there could have been a screen out at my house, and I might not have felt unsafe about it or been in any hurry to get it fixed--espc if the window faced out on a secluded part of the property where I figured someone from the street wasn't likely to see that it was out. (These days my attitude is a lot different!) So the screen could be a coincidence ... or, as you say, something that the perp staged to give the impression of a break-in.

What's frustrating to me is that there doesn't seem to be much information available about what was missing. It doesn't sound like the place had been ransacked. I tend to rule out an opportunistic burgler choosing Barbara at random, because I don't think that a burgler would leave anything of value. Or have any qualms about emptying drawers and throwing things around. And I agree with you: a typical burgler isn't likely to kidnap the victim, because taking someone like that is a lot of trouble.

Even if it was burglary carried out by someone she knew, it's hard to imagine that so much was left behind and undisturbed--unless the person who knew her also knew she kept in her home certain valuables such as a cache of jewely or coins. Even if that was the case, it seems that other smaller things would have been disturbed or taken in order to create the impression of a random burglary.

I tend to think this was done by something of a friend. Not a close connection necessarily--but someone she felt comfortable enough to let into her home. I'm not sure that the motive for the crime was robbery. I keep coming back to the idea that she may have known someone in her circle had done a wrongdoing--or, she may have rebuffed someone socially who then grew angry with her "superior ways."

One thing I read about her is that she was active in a certain church. I am betting there are members of that church who have a certain suspect in mind, but no proof. But if someone in Barbara's circle wronged her in some way, it's a fair bet that this person also wronged others in that circle.
 
Thanks for the link McSpy. Some of those cases do sound similar! Esp the ages of some of the victims and the home intrusions. Maybe a rapist who had figured out that a lot of 'older' ladies live alone. It is odd that Barbara would be the one chosen to be taken away from the home. However, there are so many similarities, I think this is a lead worth checking in to.

I wonder why they have suspicion about a case in Seattle. That is a long distance from the other towns! Seems funny they didn't say more about that one case.
 
DreamyEye said:
Thanks for the link McSpy. Some of those cases do sound similar! Esp the ages of some of the victims and the home intrusions. Maybe a rapist who had figured out that a lot of 'older' ladies live alone. It is odd that Barbara would be the one chosen to be taken away from the home. However, there are so many similarities, I think this is a lead worth checking in to.

I wonder why they have suspicion about a case in Seattle. That is a long distance from the other towns! Seems funny they didn't say more about that one case.
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It is odd that Barbara was taken out of the house. Unless, she was outside the house already? Maybe, she was getting ready to take out the trash or something and was ambushed outside? I wonder if she had any pets. Perhaps, she was letting a cat in or out and the ambush happened then?
 
jstick49 said:
Cold Case - where? How do I follow this??? I grew up with Barb in Iowa.
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As far as I know, jstick49, the thread you have posted on is the only one on WS that deals with Barbara's case. I have used a couple of search engines for more information, but this case didn't seem to have been covered too much in the media at the time it happened. If you find any thing not mentioned on this thread, please do post links. I hope with all my heart this case is solved for all of you who knew and cared about Barbara.
 
Hi, I was wondering if you have heard any new information on Barbara? I actually knew here and she was a friend of my dads.
 
Some of the earlier responses show that many don't know what the "riverbeds" in Los Angeles County look like. They are really drainage channels. This is a picture of the one near Barbara's house:
San Gabriel River ATV Death
(Apparently an ATV rider was speeding in the channel recently and lost control.)

This particular channel runs from the San Gabriel Mountains to the ocean alongside the 605 freeway (San Gabriel River Freeway). There are bike paths and jogging lanes along the upper edges and now-a-days there are homeless encampments there too. Most of the time, there is about as much water in the channel as shown in this picture as it only fills up when we get a lot of rain--maybe every 10 to 20 years now, as we are used to droughts. Most likely a body (or bag) is left up above where the trees are so it wouldn't be found immediately.
 
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