Slain Girl's Family Struggles To Move On

PURCELL, Okla. (AP) Nearly one year after the grisly killing of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin, the girl's family continues its struggle to come to terms with her death. On April 14, 2006, after two

Sunday, April 8th 2007, 2:11 pm

By: News On 6

PURCELL, Okla. (AP) Nearly one year after the grisly killing of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin, the girl's family continues its struggle to come to terms with her death. On April 14, 2006, after two days of searching, Curtis Bolin's daughter was found dead, stuffed inside a neighbor's closet. Police said the man who confessed in the death had plans to consume her body.

The gruesome details made it imperative that family come to the aid of Jamie's parents, said Tennia Lieb, Curtis Bolin's sister.

"It's been tough for the whole family, especially with the anniversary date coming up," Lieb said. "He's doing the best he can. He really hopes that people don't forget what happened."

Since the tragedy, Bolin switched jobs and moved from Purcell to Guthrie because he could no longer live in the community where the light of his life was extinguished.

Jamie's mother, Jennifer Fox, lost her job as a trucker two weeks after the death because her bosses said she was late in moving a shipment. She also has moved, from Jones to Oklahoma City.

Fox still can't remember pulling over to the side of the road. She was hauling produce in Arizona at 75 mph when Curtis Bolin called. Jamie was missing and things did not look good.

State, local and federal authorities were tracking down leads that a man on the Internet may have tricked Jamie to meet her in Purcell.

"When he told me, it felt like I stepped outside myself," Fox said. "I freaked out, I think."

That weekend was supposed to be the first time Fox had seen Jamie in two months, and she planned to go Easter egg hunting with her.

"I was just going to spend time with her," she said, weeping. "I think about her all the time to be honest. There's not a day that doesn't go by that I don't think about her."

Bolin admitted he thought it would be impossible living without his daughter. Then, he realized Jamie would want her father to move forward.

"I feel kind of lost," Bolin said. "I mean, it's kind of hard going from having her there every night to not. I know she'd want me to go on," he said. "She was just starting to come into her own. She was becoming her own person."

Kevin Ray Underwood, 27, a loner who lived in an apartment complex with Jamie and her father, was arrested two days after the girl's disappearance. Charged with first-degree murder and facing the death penalty, Underwood's trial has been set for Aug. 13.

Intense media coverage of the case prompted Judge Candace Blalock to move the trial from McClain County to Cleveland County, where she ruled the court has a better chance of finding impartial jurors.