For the Repose of the Dead

A list of 21 names of murdered people, hanging from the sanctuary' ceiling just behind the altar, attracted the eye and sobered the mind. Black letters on white, in inch-high characters, the list dropped five feet.

NAME FOUND MURDERED COUNTY AGE

Lee Ann Blomquist Sept. 9, 1992 Ramsey 19

Linda Priebe Sept. 23, 1992 Hennepin 40

Eden Young Sept. 29, 1992 Hennepin 31

May Catherine Young Dec. 24, 1992 Hennepin 34

Terrance Oliver Jan. 29, 1993 Hennepin 27

Gloria Dean Clay March I9, 1993 Hennepin 35

Duane Swalve April 29, 1993 Hennepin 35

Unidentified Dismembered Woman June 12, 1993 Ramsey —

Jeanie Ann Childs June 13, 1993 Hennepin 35

Deborah Bourquin July 21, 1993 Hennepin 29

Martha Ann Bacon Aug. 13, 1993 Hennepin 30

Heidi Brummett July 8, I994 Ramsey 26

Tina Marie Chesley Aug. 2, 1994 Hennepin 27

Renee Bell May 23, 1996 Hennepin 30

Rodney Dale Neadeau May 31, 1996 Hennepin 38

Deborah LaVoie June 3, 1996 Hennepin 42

Avis Warfield June I9, 1996 Hennepin 30

Christina Mendoza July 12, 1996 Hennepin 20

Keooudorn Phothisane July 20, 1996 Hennepin 21

Debra Rodgers Aug. I5, 1996 Hennepin 30

Barbara Marie Leighton Aug. I7, 1996 Hennepin 26

An interfaith audience attended a public memorial on Sept. 30th at the Church of St. Stephen's in Minneapolis. The rite commemorated eight people who were murdered here last summer and 13 previously killed, many of whose cases remain unsolved since 1992.

These people were murdered because they were involved in the metropolitan subcultures of prostitution and drugs. Most were women.

It's likely that you read about these murders if you were in the Twin Cities last summer. Blake Morrison's article of July 29 in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press quoted former FBI agent Robert Ressler, an expert in profiling serial killers, "No one gets very upset when prostitutes are killed." In the same story, former Minneapolis police chief Tony Bouza suggested why this is true: the average citizen considers whether he or she could have been the murdered person. If the citizen decides that he or she could not have been killed that way, each dismisses concern. Between the appearance of Morrison's article and the memorial service, two more women were killed.

A white linen cloth laid under white and yellow streamers that crisscrossed the altar. Two bouquets of white daisies in crystal vases graced the front corners of the plain wooden table. Michael Joncus' On Eagles' Wings began the rite. Rev. Pat Griffin, pastor at St. Stephen, welcomed the 200 people present. A poem by Maya Angelou was read, then began the litany of the murdered. Each name was spoken as white candles, standing in menorah-shaped candelabrum, were lit. Bobbie McFerrin's The 23rd Psalm, which followed, heightened the solemnity of the litany.

Advocates who help women free themselves from prostitution speak of their clientele as prostituted women, not prostitutes. Changing the noun, prostitutes, to an adjective recognizes that women do not get into this situation alone. According to the Evelina Giobbe, the Executive Director of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation Resource Institute, 80 percent have been forced from their homes often fleeing sexually abusive families. The average age of entry into prostitution is 14. Once on the street, these children need to eat.

Three organizations help women and youth consider the possibility of a life beyond prostitution. These groups are: from PRostitution to Independence, Dignity and Equality, Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution, and Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt. A member of the PRIDE staff, Tami Cumber, gave brief comments about a society that allows prostitution to flourish. Walter Robinson's Harriet Tubman was sung with accompaniment. Another speaker, Al Erickson, Director of A-STOP, read brief scriptural passages. A third speaker, Vicki Smiley, a PRIDE advisor and volunteer, a survivor of prostitution and a minister, spoke graphically about the lives of women in prostitution. Rev. Smiley invited the audience to use the open microphone. The first to speak was Sgt. Richard Edinger, homicide detective, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

He emphasized that the women had not been forgotten, and that the murders would be solved. He invited anyone to speak to him or other investigators if that person had any information about the crimes.

Giobbe wrote:

...a girl who is recruited into prostitution at 14 will have submitted to the sexual demands of 4,000 men before she is old enough to drive a car; 8,000 men before she is old enough to vote; and 12,000 men before she can legally buy a single beer in most states.

In addition to the daily mind-numbing indignity of engaging in nonviolent, unwanted sex, prostituted women are subjected to a wide range of sexual abuses as part of the job. Women are tied-up, gagged, whipped and paddled, engaged in acts involving urination and defecation, are penetrated by objects and animals, gang raped and forced to participate in humiliating, circus-like sex shows for the voyeuristic pleasure of men. There is no other job which requires a person to endure these indignities and abuses as a condition of employment....₁

Members of the audience, one after another came forward. Most were women and friends or family of the murdered.

One said: "…I met Nancy in a drug rehab program....”₂

Another said: "… Marlene and I did time together. She had a wonderful sense of humor, and we had some good conversations. She was trying to turn her life around. She was working hard at it...”

Another, who had lost a son, said: "...I thought I'd done everything a responsible parent could do to raise children well, to teach them to be kind and contributing citizens. But I couldn't protect him from being killed on the streets, as he walked home from the store...."

Another said: "…Anna was a good friend, I'll miss her so much. I met her in a job search program, as I was struggling to get beyond prostitution. She encouraged me. She made me laugh...”

People kept coming up to the microphone.

One spoke about her fury at the killer of her friend: "I hope he rots in hell…"

Another told of her journey into and out of prostitution. "... when I was seven, three of my uncles gave me liquor to drink and then raped me. One of my neighbors across the street was a prostitute, and although I didn't understand what that meant, then, I thought she lived a glamorous life. I was forced out of my home. I was alone on the street, scared and had no one to go to...."

A final requiem was played—the traditional Bahamian Funeral Song—and the memorial was over.

₁ Evelina Giobbe, "Prostitution harms body, mind, spirit, The Stop Light, Grassroots Ministry Alliance, Minneapolis, Vol. 7, September 1996.

₂ Some names of the dead have been changed to protect their families' privacy.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following organizations help women escape from prostitution:

Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution (A-STOP) c/o Grassroots Ministry Alliance, I901 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55404, (612) 872-0684.

From PRostitution to Independence, Dignity, and Equality (PRIDE), c/o Family and Children's Service of the Minneapolis Metro Area, 3125 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, MN 55406, (612) 728-2081 or 728-2062 (crisis line).

Women Hurt in Systems of Prostitution Engaged in Revolt, (WHISPER) closed last fall. Its founder and director, Evelina Giobbe, is now the Executive Director of the Commercial Sexual Exploitation Resource Institute. Lake Street Station, PO Box 8615, Minneapolis, MN 55408, (612) 825-9181.

Originally published in Two Cities. Vol. 1, No. 2, Winter 1997.