6A
Monday, May 6, 1996
NATION/WORLD
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Military murder trial still delayed
The Associated Press
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — Five years after the rapes and stabbing murders of a 15-year-old girl and her 20-year-old friend, nerves remain raw in this military town in the Mojave Desert.
There has been no trial yet for the Marine who was charged in the crimes.
That, compared with the U.S. government's relatively swift response to charges that two Marines raped a girl in Okinawa, disturbs some townspeople and the mother of the slain teen-ager.
Others are loyal defenders of the nearby Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, which has strong economic ties to the town.
"Oh, boy, this place is in an uproar," said resident Nancy Turner.
a friend of the teen-age victim's mother, Debie McMasters. "Debie stood up to a lot of people in this town, and they didn't like it."
McMasters' daughter, Mandi Scott, and Mandi's friend Rosalie Ortega each were stabbed more than 30 times in Ortega's apartment. Their bodies were found Aug. 1, 1991.
Several days later, authorities arrested 34-year-old Marine Lance Cpl. Valentine Underwood, who was charged with rape and murder in civilian court. He has pleaded not guilty, and remains jailed without bail in Barstow, a two-hour drive across the desert.
His trial has been delayed by pre-trial wrangling, and yet another round of hearings is set for this week.
McMasters said, "Finding out he was a Marine upset me very much."
"Twentynine Palms is a very small community. There isn't really a lot for the kids to do. For teen-agents, there's nothing. And they are preyed upon by Marines," McMasters said.
She noted that while a crowd turned out for Mandi's memorial service, not a single Marine was there in uniform. By contrast, she said, Underwood's preliminary hearing drew a sergeant, a lieutenant and a major.
McMasters contrasts that with the international outcry after the abduction and rape of a girl in Okinawa.
Less than two weeks after that 1905 crime, U.S. Ambassador Walter Mondale and the commander of U.S. forces in Japan, Lt. Gen. Richard B. Myers, apologized for the rape. Two Marines and a Navy seaman were convicted in Japanese court and sentenced to prison.
"They (Marines) haven't said one word to me — no condolences, no sympathy, no nothing." McMasters said. "I'm hurt, and I'm angry."
A base spokesman, Capt. Philip Thompson, said the Marines do feel for McMasters but are in a difficult position; they can't apologize for an act that the Marine hasn't been convicted of committing.
McMasters, who since has moved to the Chicago area, said many people in Twentynine Palms had turned their backs on her, concerned about keeping the town and the base on good terms and protecting the desert tourist trade.
Teddy Linton, a retired Marine who lives in Twentynine Palms, said people like McMasters unfairly were criticizing the entire Marine Corps for a crime allegedly committed by just one soldier.
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