The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 21, 1984, Image 1
ii?iiana-. Library
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Look inside for special entertainment guide on pages 8 & 9!
Tb Gcimecock
Founded 1908
Volume 77, No. 20 University of South Carolina . September 21, 1984
Coed's body fo
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Five-day police search
leads to wooded area
From Staff Reports
The intensive search by state, federal and local law enforcement
officials for missing USC student Barbara Lynn
"Bobbi" Rossi ended last night when police found her
body in a heavily wooded area.
Rossi's roommates at a Forest Acres apartment last saw
her when she left for a physical education class at 8 a.m.
Monday.
roresi /\cres ponce cniei J.c. Kowe said Rossi was also
seen on campus at 11:05 a.m. Monday.
SHE WAS last seen about 5:30 p.m. on the steps leading
to the walkway ramp beside the Sol Blatt Physical Education
Center. She was talking to an unidentified, lightskinned
woman, described, as white, 5 feet, 5 inches to 5
feet 9 inches tall, 115 pounds, with dark hair below her
shoulders and parted in the middle" and possibly wearing
dark clothes.*
Richland County Sheriff Frank Powell said his department
is still searching for this unidentified woman. She is
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said learning her whereabouts is even more important now.
Rossi missed her Kappa Delta sorority meeting at 6:30
p.m. Monday and didn't attend classes Tuesday. Rowe's
office was called about 2:30 p.m. and an investigation
begun. *
Rossi's car, a 1970- navy blue Volkswagen, S.C. license
FRE-146, was seen between 6 and 6:15 p.m. Monday about
22 miles south of Columbia off Old Bluff Road. It was
found by two hunters in a soybean field about 1,200 feet
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an an oiu uiri roau.
"WHOEVER USED that road had to know it was
there,"' Powell said in a press conference Wednesday.
The hunters told the landowner about the car and
authorities were notified Tuesday morning, but the car had
disappeared before they arrived.
Powell said apartment complexes and parking garages
and lots were searched tor the car. Numerous cars matSee
"ChronologY." pafle 3
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Preparations for the search
Lt. Rob Robertson (left), Carl Stokes, Systems Vice President for Lav*
of USC police, discuss plans to distribute fliers describing the unider
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lund after
Search on fi
By John Deiner and Ann Farmer
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found the body of Bobbi Rossi, a
20-year-old USC student missing since *
Monday, yesterday in a wooded area
off Old Bluff Road.
Richland County Sheriff Frank
Powell said in a news conference last
night that the body was found about
7:45 p.m. near an area where a
woman's blouse had been found by
one of 25 USC students helping in the
search.
Powell said police had no suspects as
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"the most baffling" in his 25 years on
the force.
"WE WILL leave no stone unturned
to solve this case," he said.
Dr. Joel Sexton, a pathologist from
Newberry, was flown to the site in a
sheriff's department helicopter. His in
vestigation of the crime scene was expected
to last into early morning
hours.
The official cause of death may be
released later today, Powell said.
Students from Rossi's sorority, Kappa
Delta, and from Sigma Nu fraternity
had spent most of yesterday searching
for her in an area near the soybean
field where her blue Volkswagen
Beetle had been seen Monday.
THROUGHOUT THE day clothing
had been found in the area, he said,
although only the blouse belonged to
Rossi. The student who found the
blouse called for assistance, and
deputies swept into the woods and
found the body.
Powell said three deputies went
Photo by Joseph Garrwtt
/ Enforcement and Safety, and Danny Baker
Hitiea young woman.
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The body of Bobbi Rossi, left, was found
48 about 12 miles southeast of Columbia
local, state and federal officials for the !
on the right may have been the last seen
woman, whom is described as "a key ti
within three feet of the body and then
backed off, trying to follow the same
path so as not to disturb possible
evidence.
The sheriff said he was "not at liberty"
to discuss the condition of the
body.
The key to the case will be finding
the young woman who reportedly was
walking with Rossi shortly before she
disappeared, Powell said.
"WE FEEL it is extremely urgent
that we find the blue Volkswagon and
the woman who was with Miss Rossi,"
he said.
Powell said the search for the
unidentified woman was to continue
desperately. 1 he department will
take the investigation to the USC campus
to try and find the unknown
woman, who is about 21 years old,
although the sheriff said he did not
know if she was a USC student.
"I can't overemphasize the fact that
it is absolutely necessary for us to find
who this person is," Powell said,
holding up a composite sketch of the
unidentified woman. "The girl is a key
to a lot of unanswered questions.
"1 want to see anyone who thinks
they've ever seen her. If any student
has any information, we want to talk
to them," he said.
POWELL SAID the university has
hppn r?f ''invulimhlp hpln" tr? thf? in.
vestigation, citing efforts from individual
students, fraternities,
sororities, the USC Division of Law
Enforcement and Safety and USC
President James Holderman.
The sheriff's department received
more than 40 calls yesterday with
possible identities of the unknown
woman, Powell said, adding that the
calls did not provide the woman's
identification.
The unknown woman is described as
white, between 5 feet 5 inches and 5
feet 9 inches and weighing about 115
pounds. She has dark hair, parted in
the middle, hanging below the
shoulders and light skin. She may have
been wearing dark clothes when seen
search
ed woman
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I yesterday in a wooded area off of Highway
. The discovery ended a five day search by
20-year-old USC coed. The woman pictured
with Rossi. Police are now searching for the
) a tot of questions."
with Rossi about 5:30 Monday
afternoon.
"I attended USC many years ago,
and I know it's nothing uncommon for
a student to walk up and start a conversation.
It could be that (the woman)
knew nothing, but something she saw
may end up clearing this for us,"
Powell said.
THE SHORT amount of time
that passed between the last time Rossi
was seen and the time her car was spotted
off Old Bluff Road surprised
Powell, he said.
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at 5:30 in the afternoon from the
physical education complex is beyond
me. . . she was the perfect AllAmerican
girl, she would not go off
with any stranger," he said.
"It's just a puzzle."
"The time frame is so close. . . we
had one or two officers eet on the
ramp and walk to where she may have
parked," he said, adding that it took
only 28 minutes for the officers to
drive to the soybean field. Only 35
minutes elapsed between the time she
was seen on the ramp and the time her
car was seen, he said, which leaves only
seven minutes unaccounted for.
i Inside
Classified 16
Dateline 2
Entertainment 7
Opinion 6
Sports 10
Sisters waited.Barbara Rossi's
ia. i i
sui unty sisters waited anxiously (luring
the search for her 3
Bedlam Hour.A band appropriately
named for the event they'll be playing
at tonight ? the All Nighter. 7
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faces Duke, an ACC rival tomorrow
night 10