Posted on 04/16/2006 2:04:25 PM PDT by MizSterious
Man confesses in grisly death
By Bryan Dean and Chad Previch
Staff Writers
PURCELL - A loner here confessed Friday to killing his 10-year-old neighbor, Jamie Rose Bolin, telling FBI agents searching a container in his apartment: "Go ahead and arrest me. She is in there. I chopped her up," police wrote in an affidavit.
Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, intended to eat Jamie's body and had targeted other potential victims, police said.
Investigators alleged Saturday that Underwood hit Jamie on the head three times with a wooden cutting board, smothered her with his hand and duct tape, tried to cut off her head and sexually molested her after she was dead.
Before the attack, Underwood and the girl watched the cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" on TV, District Attorney Tim Kuykendall told KWTV NEWS 9 on Saturday night. Kuykendall said the girl pleaded with Underwood as the attack began, asking him to let her go, saying "I'm sorry" and promising not to tell on him.
During a subsequent search of Underwood's apartment, investigators seized a decorative dagger, a hack saw, meat tenderizer, barbecue skewers, a cutting board and a videotaped television documentary about serial killers, among other items, Purcell Police Chief David Tompkins said.
A mug belonging to the victim and a dismantled bicycle were also found in Underwood's residence, Tompkins said.
Underwood, of Purcell, was arrested Friday and was being held without bail Saturday at the McClain County jail.
Kuykendall said he plans to file a murder charge against Underwood on Monday and intends to seek the death penalty.
At a news conference Saturday, Kuykendall and Tompkins described the trauma Jamie suffered.
"The victim was found with deep saw marks to her neck in an apparent attempt to decapitate the body," Tompkins said. "It is believed the body was sexually molested after death."
Tompkins also said: "Investigators do not believe there are any other victims. Investigators believe there were very likely other potential targets or victims. ... These other targets were both male and female, both children and adults."
Tompkins said Underwood completed only a portion of his plot.
"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," Tompkins said.
Kuykendall said the crime was planned months in advance.
Underwood lived in the same apartment building as Jamie and offered to let her use his telephone to order a pizza the night before she disappeared, Kuykendall said.
Jamie sometimes went to his apartment to play with his pet rat, which he would put on his shoulder for her to pet, Kuykendall said. Jamie went into the apartment voluntarily Wednesday morning, he said.
Tim Bayer, manager of the Purcell Park Apartments, told FBI agents he heard Underwood was the last person to see Bolin before she went missing, according to a search warrant affidavit written by Purcell police.
Underwood was stopped at a police checkpoint about 3:45 p.m. Friday, the affidavit states, and FBI agents questioned him about the girl's disappearance.
When they were finished questioning Underwood, agents took him back to his home, the affidavit states. He agreed to let agents search his apartment, and when they looked in a bedroom closet, they found a blue plastic Rubbermaid tub sealed with duct tape.
Underwood told agents the container was filled with comic books, but upon opening it, agents found a shirt Underwood earlier told them Jamie was wearing when he last saw her, the affidavit states.
At that point, Underwood told investigators her body was in the container, the affidavit states.
Tompkins said the tub contained Jamie's nude body, clothes and a towel used to soak up her blood.
'We're just getting through'
Before the news conference Saturday, Jamie's family met with authorities for almost two hours. Then they tearfully addressed reporters outside the police station.
Jamie's uncle, Mark Chiles, said the meeting was tough to endure. Police gave the family as many details of Jamie's death as they wanted.
"Sometimes it got to a point where it hurt," Chiles said. "This has been very, very rough on all of us. We're in the process of grieving. It's really hard on everybody."
Chiles complimented investigators and thanked them for their hard work on the case. He said funeral plans are pending and a memorial fund has been created.
He said the family knows the court proceedings can take up to two years, and they are preparing for that process.
"Most of us haven't had much sleep," he said. "We're not eating well. We're just getting through."
While Chiles spoke, Jamie's father, Curtis Bolin, was ushered away weeping by family members.
Bud Anderson, Curtis Bolin's cousin, said he becomes enraged when he thinks about Underwood and his confession to authorities.
"She's sweet. A smart girl," he said. "But what 10-year-old isn't sweet?"
The town is in disbelief over Jamie's brutal death. A group of Jamie's friends walked along Green Avenue tying white ribbons to trees.
Jamie's best friend, Carrissa Jacobs, 10, said the two met at the beginning of the school year and were in Girl Scouts together.
She last saw Jamie on Wednesday during the school's sixth hour. She said Jamie was "kind of" happy.
"I feel like she's my sister," Carrissa said. "We'd sit at the tables and eat breakfast together. We'd play at recess together."
Bayer sat outside his porch Saturday with his children. He shook his head and cursed Underwood when talking about the pain police say he put Jamie through.
About 6 p.m. Wednesday, Bayer and Curtis Bolin came to Underwood's apartment asking whether he had seen Jamie. Bayer said Underwood "took forever" to answer his door and was buttoning up his shirt.
Underwood told them he was really tired and needed to work in the morning.
"I could have saved her if I knew she was there," Bayer said, shaking his fist as his 10-year-old daughter stood nearby.
By the time Bayer knocked on the door, though, Jamie had likely been dead for hours, Tompkins said.
Few friends
Rickey Woods, 29, who worked with Underwood about five years at a Carl's Jr. down the street from Underwood's apartment, confirmed what Underwood said about himself in his online writings -- he was extremely shy, had few friends and rarely left his house.
"There were some people he would talk to, but 90 percent of us he wouldn't," Woods said.
Woods used to live in an apartment just above Underwood. Woods, who never met Jamie, said he would only see Underwood when he left his apartment to do laundry or pay bills.
"He would go in his house, shut the door and no one would see him for the rest of the day," he said. "I moved out of there last year. I'm glad I did now because I've got a little 8 year old."
Contributing: Nolan Clay, Joe Wertz, Augie Frost and Jane Glenn Cannon
I have a pretty strong stomach for grisly details, but this one sent shudders up and down my spine and tears to my eyes. I can't fathom how people like this exist.
Grisly DEATH?
Shouldn't that be grisly MURDER?
How about an old ropre tied in a slip knot -- and just kick a chair out from beneath his feet.
Police followed leads early in the investigation that indicated Jamie Rose Bolin was using a computer to have sexually explicit chats and had possibly arranged a meeting on the day she died.
District Attorney Tim Kuykendall said some of that evidence still "may point to yet another suspect."
Another lead pointed to a man driving a pickup. Witnesses told police they saw Jamie get inside it, and investigators released a description of the man and the pickup as part of a nationwide Amber alert.
Kevin Underwood, the suspect in Jamie's death, drives a four-door Buick sedan, according to a police affidavit. It is not known whether he had access to another vehicle.
Police said they are continuing to follow every lead.
C'mon, folks...it's easy...we do to him what he did to the young kid...step by step, so he knows exactly what she suffered.
Death sentence for this guy...quickly handed down and quickly executed. Sooner the better.
I'll pull the trigger and no charge for the ammunition.
There is no punishment painful enough for this piece of garbage disguised as a human. I hope he gets raped and beaten to death while he's in the county jail so we can skip the trial. He's already confessed and evidence is overwhelming. Kill him now.
sickening, I'll leave it at that.
When they said they had him on suicide watch at the jail, Dear Hubby snorted, "I hope that means they'll all WATCH while he hangs himself!"
Voted for Kerry in 2004.
I've had nightmares for a couple of nights now--ever since we heard what had happened to her. This is a fairly nice small town, not far from where we live, and it's chilling to think we've probably stood in line with him at the grocery or the hardware store, never knowing just how close to absolute evil we were. And this little girl had to pass his front door to get to her apartment...
Time for another talk with my grandkids about not getting into anyones car or going into homes unless mom or dad says it is ok.
Oh, yes, and in one of his writings, he went on and on about how much he admired Michael Moore. Are we getting some insights into the liberal "mind"?
This monster deserves to suffer pain and anguish for the rest of his natural life. Not a moment of peace. Unfortunately our society doesn't allow these sorts of creatures to be punished the way they deserve.
When conditions allow, evil asserts itself. If we fail to recognize it for what it is, and fail to dispatch it swiftly, it will spread and grow.
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