Owner of Van Questioned for Leads in Girl’s Death

San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators Tuesday questioned a Chino man who may have loaned his van to murder suspect Warren James Bland on the day 14-year-old Wendy Rachelle Osborn of Placentia disappeared on her way to school.

After several hours of questioning, the investigators declined to say what information Joel David Chandler gave them and cautioned that he is not a suspect and has not been charged with any offense.

After interviewing Chandler, investigators said they still had not located his vehicle, a silver and gray 1984 Chevrolet van bearing the license plate 2 AZS 532.

Bland, who has been charged in Riverside with the murder of 7-year-old Phoebe Ho of South Pasadena, is also the leading suspect in the kidnaping and murder of Wendy Osborn, whose body was found Feb. 1 in the Chino Hills area of San Bernardino County.

Flyers Passed Out

Meanwhile, a photograph of Chandler’s van appeared on flyers distributed Tuesday by Placentia police seeking witnesses to the girl’s abduction. Department of Motor Vehicle records show the license plate belongs to a “house car” type of van registered to Chandler, 50, of Chino.

The flyers also show a 1970 Toyota four-door, blue over gray sedan, with license 314 ASU. Bland is believed to have stolen the Toyota from a 73-year-old Long Beach woman who authorities say was Bland’s pen pal while he was in prison.

Bland was captured last week in the San Diego community of Pacific Beach after a police detective recognized the Toyota.

Authorities wanted to ask Chandler if he loaned the vehicle to Bland on Jan. 20, the date that Wendy Osborn was last seen as she left home for Tuffree Junior High School, according to Placentia police and San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators.

“Mr. Chandler is cooperating with the police,” San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Lt. David Baker said, adding that Chandler was not under arrest.

“We’ve got nothing to make him a suspect in this case,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Stodelle said. “If he loaned his vehicle to Mr. Bland, we’d like to know that.”

Sought for 2 Days

“Our investigators have been looking for him for the last couple days,” Stodelle said shortly before authorities located Chandler on Tuesday afternoon.

State prison records show that Bland and Chandler served time in 1985 at California Men’s Colony at San Luis Obispo, a medium security prison.

“He (Chandler) is just somebody who knows Mr. Bland,” Lt. Baker said.

“People who know both Chandler and Bland” told investigators that Bland had used Chandler’s van, although not necessarily on the day Wendy Osborn disappeared.

Authorities have interviewed from 800 to 1,000 individuals in connection with the Wendy Osborn case, according to Baker. “A few” were also believed to have loaned their vehicles to Bland at one time or another, he said.

Met at Prison

Chandler apparently crossed paths with Bland in 1985 at the San Luis Obispo prison while Bland was serving a prison sentence for molesting an 11-year-old Torrance boy and Chandler was serving a sentence for possession of a concealed weapon, according to prison records.

Meanwhile, investigators interviewed Bland on Monday in Riverside, where he has been hospitalized while recovering from a gunshot wound suffered when he was arrested in San Diego on Feb. 9, said James Bryant, a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

“He didn’t say anything we didn’t know, and we didn’t get anything out of him that links him to” the Osborn murder, Bryant said. “We still don’t have any evidence that can be used in court.” Bryant said Bland “did not admit” killing Wendy Osborn.

Reward Offer Posted

Within hours of Chandler’s questioning, the Placentia City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to offer a $10,000 reward in connection with Wendy Osborn’s murder. The council resolution states that the reward is intended to “facilitate leads and information . . . to bring the guilty persons to justice,” Placentia Police Lt. Chuck A. Babcock said.

The resolution makes city employees and law enforcement officials ineligible for the reward money, Babcock added.

Placentia Police Sgt. Russ Rice said the flyers distributed Tuesday along the girl’s route from her home to her school had not yet resulted in any new leads in the Osborn case.

“But it’s a little too soon to tell,” Rice said. “A lot of people were on their way to school or work. We weren’t expecting an immediate response. We were hoping it will jar someone’s memory.”

Times staff writer Leonel Sanchez contributed to this story.