Autopsy on Girl Reveals Possible Torture

Wendy Rachelle Osborn, the 14-year-old Placentia girl whose body was found in the Chino Hills, had been strangled, sexually assaulted and possibly tortured with a pair of pliers, San Bernardino County Coroner Brian McCormick said Tuesday.

An autopsy also showed that Wendy may have been alive for eight to 10 days after she was last seen by her family Jan. 20 when she left home to walk to school, McCormick said, raising the possibility that the 5-foot-3, 93-pound teen-ager had been held captive.

“She was probably alive most of the time,” the coroner said.

But McCormick said Wendy had been dead for at least 48 hours when horseback riders discovered her fully clothed body Sunday along a rugged ridge line in the Carbon Canyon area.

Investigators still have not ruled out a connection with the slaying of 7-year-old Phoebe Ho of South Pasadena, whose body was discovered Dec. 19 in a field in the Glen Avon area of Riverside County.

Arrest Warrant Issued

An arrest warrant has been issued in that case for James Warren Bland, 51, a parolee with a history of sex crimes who was last known to be living in the Alhambra area. Bland was questioned early in the Phoebe Ho investigation, but was released and subsequently fled, police said.

“We would like to talk to him,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Stodelle, who added that Bland is not officially considered a suspect in the Osborn case. But Stodelle said there are “some vague similarities” between the two cases.

Both cases involve girls apparently abducted on their way to school, strangled and sexually assaulted, Stodelle said, and their bodies were dumped in remote areas.

San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators Tuesday had set up a task force to determine Wendy’s whereabouts during the 12 days she was missing, Bryant said. Detectives were also interviewing known sex offenders, he said.

Wendy was last seen at 8:10 a.m. Jan. 20 as she left home for Tuffree Junior High, less than two miles away. She never arrived at school, and her parents--Jack and Carolyn Osborn--reported her missing at 6:30 p.m.

Her body was found near Western Hills Country Club on a hill overlooking a construction site west of Carbon Canyon Road and about two miles northeast of the Orange and San Bernardino county line.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Eastside Christian Church, 2505 E. Yorba Linda Blvd., Fullerton.