Schoolgirl's Murder Evokes Grief, Fear--and Generosity

By La MONT JONES JR

June 9, 1987 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

As the American and California flags flew at half-staff at Santa Ana’s Monte Vista Elementary School on Monday afternoon, a policeman patrolled the campus.

Scores of relatives--twice as many as usual, according to Assistant Principal Kathy Sabine--waited for children to be dismissed from school.

It was five days earlier that Patricia Lopez, 9, was last seen alive by a teacher at the school. The girl’s beaten body was found Friday by children playing in the dry bed of the Santa Ana River about two miles from the school.

Monday, a widespread sense of grief was evident at Monte Vista, but Principal Donald Tibbetts said the death of the third-grader had prompted something else as well: an outpouring of generosity.

“People have already brought in money and food, and I haven’t even sent my information (about the Patricia Lopez Fund) yet,” Tibbetts said.

His letter, typed on pink paper in English and Spanish, informed parents that the school is safe despite Patricia’s abduction. It also requested donations for the Lopez family. But the donations already were pouring in, Tibbetts said.

“One woman has said she will pay the complete expense of the funeral, which is about $2,000,” he said.

An Anaheim woman brought five boxes of food to the school. An Irvine man dropped off $100. Parents dropped by all day with donations of $5, $10 and “all amounts,” Tibbetts said.

All donations will be given the Lopez family at the end of the week, he said.

Among those dropping by to contribute money was Charlene Burton, 81. Her gift was $38.

Burton and two granddaughters, Wanda and Sherry English, live on West Mark Street. Their backyards face the front of the school, and they remember seeing Lopez play with friends some days after school.

“My three nieces are very concerned about it,” Sherry English said. “Every day they talk about it. All night long they sleep with the lights on. They watch the news all the time, ever since it’s been on the news.”

Helen Evans, one of four school psychologists working with the approximately 1,000 students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Monte Vista, said she has encouraged students to “show their feelings and get it all out.”

“They are sad and frightened,” she said. “They are quieter now.”

Lucina Soloril and Maria Ramirez of Santa Ana said they began picking up their sister, fifth-grader Maricela Soloril, at the school after Patricia was abducted. They said they will continue to pick her up until school ends for the year on June 29.

“It’s less than a mile to walk home, but I’m afraid,” Ramirez said. “I’m afraid because I have a little kid, too, and I don’t want the same thing to happen to him.”

Maria Ruiz, who lives a few blocks from the school, said she started meeting her daughter, Molly, and brother, Gustavo, after school when Patricia disappeared.

“They (the children) could be missing too,” she said. “Nobody knows what it feels like, only a mom. I’m a mom myself, so I understand. It could happen just about anywhere. It could be your neighbor. You can’t trust nobody no more.”

Feeling of Fear

“It should have been all along that parents started doing this, but sometimes it takes something like this,” she said, glancing up and down the street. “You think that might never happen to you, but it could happen to anybody.”

Tibbetts said students “have calmed down quite a bit” since Patricia’s death. “A lot more parents are walking and driving their kids to school. Police have shown high visibility, and it’s brought a very secure feeling to the school.”

Maureen Thomas, spokeswoman for the Santa Ana Police Department, said the results of an autopsy will not be released in order to “not jeopardize the investigation.” She said the department has “several teams of investigators who worked around the clock over the weekend” on the case.

A police employee is stationed as a school crossing guard at McFadden and Center streets, where Patricia used to meet her mother after school, Thomas said.

The McDougall Family Mortuary at 1610 East 1st St. in Santa Ana is handling all funeral arrangements. The Rosary is at 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the mortuary chapel. The funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 5021 West 16th St., Santa Ana, according to a spokesman at the mortuary.

Less than 45 minutes after the end of the school day Monday, all was quiet at the school except for halting bits of “This Land Is Your Land.” The music came from a flute-like recorder played by Vanessa Leon, 9, a third-grader, as she sat in the shade on the school’s front lawn with two friends.

She said Patricia Lopez was her best friend.

“I don’t feel real great,” she said quietly. “I feel like . . . a little sad.”

She said she cried when she heard Patricia was dead and said she plans to attend the funeral.

“I got all the newspapers that showed the picture of her, and cut them out and put them on my wall.”

Times staff writer Marcida Dodson contributed to this article.