Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : AT THE SCENE : Anaheim Police Admit They Had Girl’s Purse
Anaheim police conceded this week that they had 14-year-old Wendy Osborn’s purse and school identification card in a property room for three days after they received a teletype alerting them of her disappearance--and apparently while she was still alive.
But the Anaheim Police Department never connected the Placentia teen-ager’s purse with the teletype--which was read aloud at roll-call meetings--in what was described by one lieutenant as a series of unavoidable and tragic circumstances.
Knowledge that the purse had been discovered--less than three hours after Wendy was last seen by her family on the morning of Jan. 20--would have made a difference in the case, spokesmen for both the Anaheim Police Department and the task force investigating the Osborn girl’s kidnaping and murder said.
“It would have been a tremendous aid to Placentia (police) if we’d been able to tell them about that purse,” Anaheim Police Lt. Bill Wright said.
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