Classmates Sing Farewell to Slain Girl, 14 : More Than 1,000 Friends and Relatives Attend Funeral for Kidnaping Victim

The familiar words and melody of the friendship anthem “That’s What Friends Are For” floated over the packed crowd at Chatsworth United Methodist Church Saturday. But the song’s normally joyful theme was clouded by sorrow.

Students from Lawrence Junior High School performing the song were dedicating it to their schoolmate, Wendy Kimiko Masuhara. It was their farewell to her.

More than 1,000 friends, relatives and neighbors attended the funeral for Masuhara, 14, killed last Saturday after she and a friend were abducted from their Chatsworth neighborhood, taken to a nearby canyon and shot in their heads.

The mourners, who spilled out of the church onto the surrounding grounds, included many students from Lawrence Junior High, where Masuhara was a straight-A student, and Germain Street School, where she had gone to elementary school.

Also attending were the parents of Masuhara’s 13-year-old companion, who survived the attack and was able to describe her assailant to police.

The girl, whose identity was being withheld by police who fear for her safety, was listed in serious condition but improving at an undisclosed hospital.

Member of School Chorus

Masuhara had been a member of the school chorus, and many of her choir mates wept as they sang the lyrics of devotion and loyalty made famous by entertainer Dionne Warwick. Some put their arms around each other. A few stared silently at the floor or at the ceiling. The singing was soft and muted.

The church’s minister, the Rev. Harry H. Murakami, said he was grateful that Masuhara’s companion “survived this horrible ordeal,” and chastised the girls’ assailants for “their neurotic, demented need to do what they did.” He said he hopes that the assailants are convicted “before they can bring similar heartache to another family.”

Masuhara was memorialized by classmates and teachers as a bright, shy but friendly teen-ager who loved school, especially choir and her Spanish class. She was also becoming adept in script writing, and her name, in her handwriting, appeared on the cover of the pink funeral program.

Jan Nakamura, 21, a cousin of Masuhara, spoke warmly of her emerging adolescence.

“Wendy was just starting to have fun with makeup, clothes and thinking about boys,” Nakamura said. “But her family was the most important to her.”

Nakamura clenched her fists, gripped the lectern and wiped away tears as she told family members in the front of the church how much they had meant to Masuhara.

She concluded, “I will always remember how she grew up overnight from my baby cousin who I used to play Barbie dolls with to a beautiful, happy, bouncing teen.”

Letter From Classmate

Another classmate read a letter he wrote to Masuhara’s companion, telling her to remember the good times that she and Masuhara shared.

Nieves Garber, Masuhara’s Spanish teacher, described her as “very respectful, patient with others, kind and tender. Her smile will be with us for the rest of our lives.”

After the service, Masuhara’s mother, Lynn, dressed in a blue dress with a white collar and red tie, stood outside the church and hugged family and friends. A private burial service followed.

Roland Norman Comtois, 57, who was charged with murder and numerous sexual violations in the abduction and kidnaping of Masuhara and her friend, was listed in serious condition at County-USC Medical Center Saturday. Comtois, a former convict with a long criminal record, was shot Tuesday by police as he ran from them.

Police were still looking for Comtois’ alleged accomplice, Marsha Lynn Erickson, 33, who officials said played a role in the attack.