Strangled Girl Was Molested, Autopsy Reveals

Phoebe Ho, a 7-year-old South Pasadena girl found dead in a Riverside County ditch last week, was sexually assaulted before she was strangled, authorities said Tuesday.

Phoebe’s disappearance while walking to school Dec. 11 prompted a massive search and creation by South Pasadena residents of a reward fund, which was boosted Tuesday when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to contribute $10,000.

The reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer now totals about $24,000, according to George Brown, a South Pasadena resident who heads the “Phoebe Ho Center.”

“I hope and pray that the reward money will serve as an incentive for anyone who knows anything to step forward and tell police what they know,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Antonovich. “It is important that the murderer be stopped before more children can be so brutally victimized.”

Riverside Sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Dotts said that autopsy results showed that the girl “was a victim of sexual molestation prior to being murdered.” Teams of investigators are following up leads in South Pasadena and western Riverside County, he said.

Antonovich cited speculation that Phoebe’s case might be linked with the disappearance of April Ann Cooper, a 7-year-old girl last seen playing at the Woodchuck Camping Resort in southeastern Riverside County. She was reported missing Dec. 13 by her mother, Debbie Hamilton, who shares a trailer with the girl.

Riverside Sheriff’s Investigator Chris Taylor said Tuesday that no connection between the two cases has been found but that the possibility is still being investigated.