Okla. Town Mourns Slain Girl

Jamie Rose Bolin, the 10-year-old girl whose body was found in the apartment of a man who authorities said intended to eat her corpse, was remembered Thursday as a friendly child who enjoyed watching movies, singing and sewing.

"Maybe heaven needed another rose to add to its bouquet," Duane Elmore, a pastor, told about 1,000 people attending the funeral in the Purcell High School gymnasium. "It only took her 10 years to earn her wings."

Members of Jamie's Girl Scout troop wept during a video presentation chronicling moments in her life, including clowning around with friends.

Elmore told Jamie's family that the community would continue to support them.

"Long after the cameras are gone and the headlines change, there will still be people in Purcell who love you," Elmore said, his voice quaking with emotion.

The service drew so many people that police cordoned off traffic for two square blocks and golf carts carried mourners from their cars to the gym, The Oklahoman newspaper reported.

A photograph of the girl along with a large bouquet of flowers was on top of the white casket.

Two dozen green balloons, Jamie's favorite color, hung behind the casket. They would be released two hours later after a graveside service in Guthrie, reported The Oklahoman.

As Jamie's father, Curtis Bolin, left the memorial service, the father of another recent 10-year-old murder victim approached, identified himself and gave Bolin a long hug, the paper reported.

At the burial site, Jamie's grandmother's minister urged the family not to waste too much time asking the unanswerable question. "Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us why things like this happen," the Rev. Gerald Johnson said, reported The Oklahoman.

"What good can come of something like this? Bless your heart. I don't know. But the Lord knows, and he will guide you through it," Johnson said.

Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in Jamie's death. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty. A judge has entered a not guilty plea for Underwood.

The grocery store stocker was arrested on April 14 and held without bail after drawing suspicion at a checkpoint near the apartment complex where he and Jamie's family lived.

Underwood led authorities to the apartment, where they found Jamie's body in a large plastic tub sealed with duct tape in his bedroom closet.

Authorities believe Underwood lured the child into his apartment, beat her on the head with a wooden cutting board and suffocated her with his hands and duct tape. Jamie died of asphyxiation, authorities said.

Prosecutors have said meat tenderizer and barbecue skewers found in his apartment were intended for the little girl.

According to a police affidavit, Underwood confessed that he killed Jamie, telling FBI agents: "Go ahead and arrest me. She is in there. I chopped her up."

Police said that while there were deep saw marks on the girl's neck, she had not been dismembered.