Theft Occurred 4 Days After Questioning : Woman Says Murder Suspect Stole Her Car, Gun

Four days after he was questioned by homicide investigators in connection with the murder of 7-year-old Phoebe Ho of South Pasadena, convicted sex offender Warren James Bland stole a Long Beach woman’s automobile and handgun, then fled, police said Friday.

Bland is the leading suspect in the death of Phoebe Ho and of 14-year-old Wendy Rachelle Osborn of Placentia, who disappeared less than two weeks after the alleged auto theft. In separate incidents, the girls were kidnaped while on their way to school and were later found dead, their bodies dumped in isolated areas miles from their homes. The girls had been sexually assaulted, strangled and possibly tortured with pliers or other clamping devices, authorities said.

Bland, who is believed to be armed and is considered dangerous, remains at large. A task force of Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange county investigators are seeking him on a murder warrant in the Ho case and for questioning in the death of Osborn.

Long Beach police and San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokesmen said Friday that Bland is believed to have stolen a faded light blue four-door 1970 Toyota Corolla, license plate 314 ASU.

Authorities said Bland took the car from the North Long Beach home of Ann Rippetoe, 73. The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported Friday that Rippetoe said Bland had dyed his graying hair black and told her that he was “on the run” from police before stealing her car and gun. The newspaper described Rippetoe as a “longtime friend and pen pal” of Bland. Rippetoe declined interviews Friday.

“I’m sure,” said San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bill Arthur, “that if there was a friendship there, it’s over with now.”

Suspect Was on Parole

Phoebe Ho disappeared on her way to school Dec. 11. Her body was found in a field in Glen Avon Dec. 18.

Wendy Osborn disappeared on her way to school Jan. 20, and her body was found last Sunday in the Chino Hills.

At the time of the crimes, Bland was on parole in connection with the molestation of an 11-year-old Torrance boy, whom he had tortured with pliers. Bland has an extensive record of rape and child molestation dating to 1960 and has spent 21 of the past 26 years either in prison or a state mental hospital.

A formal complaint was filed Thursday in Riverside charging Bland with the murder of Phoebe Ho. Bland also is the “front-runner” among suspects in the Wendy Osborn killing, Arthur said.

Riverside County Sheriff Cois Byrd said his investigators had interviewed Bland “for a matter of hours” on Jan. 3 at Bland’s home in Alhambra and seized a vehicle he owned and a van he had been driving. Bland was not arrested then because there was little evidence then to link him to the Ho homicide, Byrd said.

Later, California Department of Justice technicians scoured the van and Bland’s home and came up with carpet fibers, paint chips and other evidence linking him to the case, Byrd said.

Arthur said there have been several suspects in the Wendy Osborn case but that investigators are narrowing the field rapidly.

“We’re down . . . to a few left,” said Arthur, adding that Bland “is still the front-runner of it all.”