Vicki Lynne Hoskinson

(Πηγή: Φως μέσα από τα κάγκελα, εκδόσεις Άθως, Ιανουάριος 2021).(January 29, 1956 – June 8, 2022), was traced through witness testimony and physical evidence, which the abductor alleged in a later appeal was planted on his car.

Seven months later, Vicki's remains were found in a desert area 20 mi away and Atwood was found guilty of first degree murder.

He was sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on June 8, 2022.

Vicki Lynne Hoskinson (February 2, 1976 – c. September 17, 1984) was an 8year-old American girl who disappeared in Tucson, Arizona while riding her bicycle to mail a birthday card to her aunt, and was eventually found murdered.

Her abductor, Frank Jarvis Atwood* *κατά ακρίβειαν αυτό δεν επιβεβαιώθηκε ποτέ με επαρκή δεδομένα μιας και ο έλεγχος που πραγματοποιήθηκε στο αυτοκίνητο του Φρανκ δεν έδειξε κανένα στοιχείο εμπλοκής του στην απαγωγή και έπειτα στο φόνο της μικρής Βίκυ.

Απέναντίας, μαρτυρίες ότι η μικρή Βίκυ απήχθη από μία κυρία που συχνάζε αρκετά συχνά στο εμπορικό κέντρο της πόλης στο οποίο θεάθηκε η μικρή Βίκυ δεν εξετάστηκαν ποτέ με πλήρη έλεγχο από την αστυνομία.

Συνεπώς, η απαγωγή και ο φόνος της μικρής Βίκυ παραμένουν ανεξιχνίαστα ακόμη και σήμερα, 40 χρόνια μετά το τραγικό έγκλημα.

On Monday, September 17, 1984, Vicki's mom asked Vicki to take a letter to a mailbox to mail a birthday card to her aunt.

This was the first time Carlson had allowed any of her children to go out on their own, previously using the buddy system.

After 20 minutes, Carlson sent Vicki's 11-year-old sister Stephanie to look for her; Stephanie found Vicki's bicycle lying on the side of the road a few blocks away, and one block from the elementary school.

Carlson placed Vicki's bicycle in her car trunk and called the Pima County Sheriff's Department.

Detective Gary Dhaemers responded, and a few hours later a command center was set up.

Not long after Hoskinson's abduction was publicized, a tipster reported seeing a young girl matching the victim's description in a store, accompanied by an adult woman.

A composite sketch was created of the girl's companion, but eventually, police determined the sighting was unrelated to the abduction of Hoskinson.

After interviews with possible witnesses, Sam Hall, a coach at an elementary school, stated he saw a suspicious-looking driver parked in a vehicle in an alley beside the school on the day Vicki disappeared.

Hall had been supervising a group of students at play when he noticed a suspicious vehicle.

According to Hall, the driver was making strange gestures and was struggling with the manual gearshift lever.

He memorized the license plate, ran to his car to get a notepad and wrote it down.

He later gave it to the police after hearing Vicki was missing.

A little girl said the driver made an obscene gesture to her as he cruised by her house.

Another saw the driver back into a telephone pole.

The trace on the license plate led to a 28-year-old Los Angeles man named Frank Jarvis Atwood.

Agents ran a background check and found kidnapping and child molestation charges.

Atwood was out on parole in California for sexual abuse of an 8-year old boy.

They went to the address where Atwood's vehicle was registered.

It was the home of Atwood's parents, Frank Jarvis Atwood Sr., a retired army brigadier general, and his wife, who was more protective of their son.

A few hours later, Atwood called his parents stating his car had broken down in Texas and he needed money wired to get it fixed.

His mother wrote down the address in Kerrville, Texas, where Atwood awaited a new transmission.

His father copied the information and drove to a nearby payphone and reported the address to the FBI.

FBI agents in Texas detained Atwood and his traveling companion, James McDonald, at the mechanic shop on September 20 and impounded the car.

During questioning, Atwood told investigators he was in Vicki's neighborhood on September 17, the day she disappeared, staying in a nearby park.

About 3:00 pm, he left to buy drugs and returned to the park about 5:00 pm, but did not say where he was during the two-hour period.

McDonald corroborated Atwood's story and told investigators that he and Atwood had an argument in the park about 3:00.

After that, Atwood left for two hours and returned with bloodstains on his hands and clothing.

Atwood told McDonald he got into a fight with a drug dealer and stabbed him.

Investigators found two men who claimed Atwood spent two nights in their trailer.

One of them, known as Mad Dog, claimed Atwood's clothes and hands were bloodstained, and that they had suggested Atwood get rid of his clothes.

Atwood told them that he stabbed a double-crossing drug dealer.

While no physical evidence in the car could be linked to Vicki's person, accident reconstruction experts matched pink paint on the front bumper of Atwood's vehicle to the color of the paint on Vicki's bike, and traced damage to the car's gravel pan to one of the bike's pedals.

Traces of nickel plating from the bumper were also found on the bike.