-
http://members.theglobe.com/jil403/JESSICA.JPG
LETHBRIDGE, Alta. (CP) - As the hunt for a child killer intensified Sunday, many flocked to churches to mourn the death of a little girl whose face smiled from posters, newspapers and television across the country.
"God will reach down and wipe away the tears from our eyes," Father Dennis McDonald said Sunday to the congregation at St. Martha's Catholic Church.
The death of Jessica Koopmans, 5, has brought anguish, confusion and fear to the community, especially to the girl's mother Sylvia Koopmans.
"She's so heartbroken," Rita Bouw said of her daughter after attending mass.
"It's very, very hard. She will never forget this Mother's Day."
In the days after Jessica disappeared, family members hoped the little girl would safely return. They now believe the body found Friday in a pile of cut willow tree branches in a field near Fort McLeod, Alta., is that of Jessica.
"At least this has some closure," Bouw said. "The numbness, you know, is there. But the pain is so severe. It was so unjust."
Police were still not identifying the body Sunday, saying that information and cause of death must come from a Calgary medical examiner. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
The also refused to give any other details about the circumstances surrounding the death.
"They are being cautious and they don't want to reveal anything that could compromise the investigation," said Peter Tadman, a spokesman for the solictor general's office.
Police did, however, confirm the body found by a woman out for a walk is that of a young girl. Police also said they are not aware of any other missing children in southern Alberta.
"I feel that they believe that's her," said Bouw. "We do as well."
Jessica was last seen May 4 at about 5 p.m. after leaving her home to play with a friend down the block. She never arrived.
A woman taking her daily walk on a gravel road 50 kilometres west of Lethbridge discovered the body - two little feet jutting out of the wood pile.
"I wanted to touch them to see if it was a doll (or) if it was real," said the woman. Police asked that the woman's name not be published.
Teams of investigators and police dogs with their handlers were at the scene throughout the weekend, combing the field for clues, but the investigation at the site was completed Sunday morning, said Tadman.
"Investigators are assessing all of their information and continuing to respond to the now more than 500 tips that have flowed in since Jessica went missing May 4," he said.
Police were also asking anyone in or travelling through the Fort McLeod area to report any suspicious activity they may have seen since May 4.
In Lethbridge, at McKillop United Church, Rev. Terry Shillington told his congregation that people are afraid their children may become the next victim.
"Parents have clutched their children a little more fearfully this week," the minister said.
"We've looked out and seen the world as unsafe and threatening as evil people lurk in the shadows," he said.
"The violent people, evil forces, the chaos around us - these won't vanish quickly."
Many want whoever is responsible for Jessica's death caught and punished.
"It's just unreal," Doris Larcombe said while filing out of church. "I hope they find the guy who did it."
Jessica's mother has asked the media for private time to grieve with family and friends. She spent Sunday with her only remaining child, Siera, and visited her parents.
Rita Bouw said Siera, 7, understands too well what has happened to her little sister.
"She lived it with us, so she's very aware of what's happened," Rita said of her granddaughter.
The girl's father, Darren Koopmans, who lives in Cochrane, Alta., just west of Calgary, was also with his family Sunday in Lethbridge where he was born and raised.
But until the coroner confirms Jessica is dead, the family won't have complete closure.
"So far, we can't make any plans - until the medical examiner makes his conclusion," said Rita Bouw.
During the week of Jessica's disappearance, some 500 volunteers searched a 60-kilometre radius around the Koopmans's north Lethbridge home.
After turning up nothing, police suspected Jessica had been abducted and the investigation turned to known criminals, including pedophiles.
There had been two recent attempted abductions in the city, including one in which someone tried to grab an eight-year-old girl off the street.
Last week an anonymous Calgary donor offered a $50,000 reward - no questions asked - for Jessica's return.
*********************************************
Some facts on the disappearance of five-year-old Jessica Koopmans:
Body found: Under a pile of brush in a farmer's a field near Fort Macleod, Alta. Koopmans' grandfather, Tony Bouw, says the family has been told it is Jessica's body.
Jessica's home town: Lethbridge, Alta.
Disappeared: May 4 from the front of her home.
Search: Hundreds of volunteers combed a 60-square-kilometre area around her home without finding any clues.
Police: Looking at incidents in March, April of a male approaching young girls in the city.
Arrests: None. Police say they are continuing to pursue tips from the public.
Autopsy: Takes place Monday at the medical examiner's office in Calgary.
Quote:- "I really miss Jessica and I feel sad and very confused, and it's hard and there's lots of uncertainty." - Sylvia Koopmans, Jessica's mother.
Here's a chronology of events in the search for Jessica Koopmans:
May 4: Five-year-old Jessica Koopmans leaves her north Lethbridge home to play with a friend down the block. When she doesn't come home, her mother Sylvia calls police. That night, they set up a command post across the street and the search begins.
May 5: About 25 searchers, including search and rescue personnel, are called in at 4 a.m. to comb streets, back alleys and nearby fields. By afternoon, the search is expanded to the river valley.
May 6: Hundreds of volunteers and police officers conduct a door-to-door search within a 10-block radius of the Koopmans home. In nearby parks and the river valley, divers look in the river, dogs are used to search fields, and volunteers take to horseback, airplanes and all-terrain vehicles.
May 7: The search is upgraded to a criminal investigation, as police consider the possibility Jessica was abducted. Her tearful mother makes a plea for her safe return: "She's my baby . . . I just want her home." Her father Darren Koopmans stays optimistic: "I know she's alive. I feel it."
May 8: Playgrounds and parks sit empty, as parents throughout Lethbridge wonder if their child could be next. Police say 500 volunteers have combed a 60-square-kilometre area.
May 9: Police say they are looking into incidents of male strangers approaching children. Police Chief John LaFlamme tries to quash rumours a pedophile lives near the Koopmans' home.
May 10: Darren Koopmans says he welcomes the offer of an anonymous donor who promises to pay a $50,000 reward for Jessica's safe return, no questions asked. "When I heard about that, I just started crying," he says. "I wish I could thank that person."
May 11: A woman out walking her dog comes across the body of a child in a field near Fort Macleod, 50 kilometres to the west of Lethbridge. Sylvia Koopmans is notified just before she goes to a prayer vigil attended by 400 people. Police will not say if the body belongs to Jessica, but a family friend says Sylvia fears the worst.
May 12: Police say a young girl's body has been sent to Calgary for an autopsy; Jessica's grieving family goes into seclusion.
*********************************************
The face behind the story
While people know Jessica's face, 'she's more than just a missing kid,' mom says
By SHERRI GALLANT
Lethbridge Herald
Scarcely more than a week ago, no one knew who Jessica Koopmans was, other than family and friends.
The smiling face of the little five-year-old Lethbridge girl, however, soon became familiar across the country - and even around the world.
The horrible, unwelcome brand of instant fame is what follows when a child goes missing.
While people may know who Jessica was, they don't know Jessica.
"She's more than just a missing kid," said her mother, Sylvia, in an interview just a day prior to the discovery of Jessica's body. "She's cuddly. She loves to snuggle, and she loves her stuffed animals."
Like a lot of kids her age, Jessica was afraid of the dark, so her mom left the bathroom light on at night.
Once she and her sister were asleep for the night, their pet cat often watched over them, curling up to sleep with first one, and then the other. Quite often, the little girl would slip from her bed and climb in with her mother. Sometimes they all ended up in the same bed, sisters, mom and kitty together.
Come morning, Jessica was an instant ball of fire.
"She gets up with her eyes still closed," explained Sylvia, laughing at the thought. "And asks for food. She loves eating, she's always eating. On a typical day she'll play with her friends, she'll colour and do crafts -- she's very crafty -- she'll play with her Barbies. She loves her Barbies."
Jessica had always been a good eater, and among her favorites were mushrooms, tuna and pickles. She loved bananas and oranges, or any kind of fruit, and enjoyed her veggies, too. In short, a mother's dream. But when comfort foods are needed, cookies and chocolate were her remedies of choice.
Jessica was excited about going to kindergarten this fall, excited to be at the school her sister Siera already attends. Already she knew how to print, and could write her own name.
At such a tender age, she was already talking about what she wanted to be when she grew up.
"At one point, she said she wanted to be a Barbie-girl wrestler," laughed mom. "Then it was a doctor, and she wanted to be a lawyer, too. And a ballerina and a princess.
"She's just been learning to write the alphabet. She's very smart. Too smart, sometimes."
Her mother described Jessica as a "girly-girl,"a feminine child who loved wearing dresses and having her hair put in ponytails.
It almost goes without saying, then, that her favorite colour was pink, but she was fond of green and purple, too.
Jessica and her sister had their own CDs, and she sang loudly along with Brittany Spears. When she sang, she danced -- en pointe, like a ballerina.
"She's always wanted to go into ballet. She walks around the house on her tippy toes -- balanced right up on her big toes, I've never seen anything like it -- and she says, 'I wanna ballereening.' "
Full of energy, Jessica and her mom would sometimes go to the park or out for a walk or a bike ride (hers had training wheels) to burn some of it off.
"She'll have had enough and she'll say to me, 'Aren't you tired yet Mom? I wanna go home now, my bones are crackin' Mom'.
"She says that all the time."
Struggling to function without any sleep, Sylvia Koopmans was trying to focus for the sake of Siera while she prayed for the safe return of Jessica.
When people look at the "missing" posters or see her daughter's picture on a Web site, she wanted them to know that she's more than just a missing child.
*********************************************
THIS HAPPENED ONLY ABOUT 90 MINUTES FROM WHERE I LIVE....WHETHER YOU ARE RELIGIOUS OR NOT... PLEASE.... SAY A PRAYER THAT THE PIECE OF SHIT WHO DID THIS RECEIVES 1000 TIMES THE PAIN AND SUFFERING HE INFLICTED ON THIS LITTLE GIRL AND HER FAMILY.
[This message has been edited by Sniffer (edited May 13, 2001).]
-
-
How scary!!
ya know! i wouldnt be supprised if 1 day! Mothers dont go hiding behind bushes with shot guns, while the kids walk to school and play ect...
Ready to shoot all the assholes that want to fuck with children...
It seems like you cant even let a child walk down a street anymore...
*prays
-
Sniffs we were watching that here...People right across Canada felt for that family...its so sad that there are such sick fucks in the world...Just goes to show you that what happens here means so little.. http://www.hostboard.com/ubb/frown.gif
[This message has been edited by heidi! (edited May 14, 2001).]
-
OMG! *sick feeling* i can't begin to imagine what that sick pig did to this little girl. the medical examiner was expected to release positive identification and cause of death of this little girl today. about 1 hour ago it was announced that visual identification is not possible and DNA testing will be required to prove it is really jessica koopmans. although they admit it is very likely it is her... they cannot positively id without the DNA.... on a more positive note... the police in lethbridge have a "person of interest" in the case in custody.... FRY THE FUCKER!
-
there is a suspect in this little girl's murder. it's the boyfriend of her mother's best friend. a man she knew well and loved and trusted. he's in the hospital on suicide watch. i say let the fucker get it over with. save the taxpayers the cost of a trial and paying for his upkeep in jail
-
She's in the arm's of the angels, may she find some comfort there...
-
Yeah, and black leggings really make fat people look slimmer! http://www.hostboard.com/ubb//logos/Forum36.gif
-
-
