Killer May Have Moved Headstone

The headstone of a murdered teenager was dug up, defaced and left outside a radio station, probably by the girl’s killer, police said Monday.

“I’m still out there” and “I’m looking for more” were scrawled in ballpoint pen on the headstone, officers said.

Tanya Smith, 16, died in October after a man attacked her with a baseball bat and dumped her in a river to drown. Her friend, Misty Cockerill, 16, was badly injured and described the assailant to police.

The attack terrified residents of Abbotsford, an agricultural community 37 miles east of Vancouver. When a man claiming to be the killer began taunting police with phone calls threatening to strike again, women were afraid to walk alone.

The fears were renewed this weekend when it was learned someone took Smith’s headstone from her grave, defaced it and left it outside an Abbotsford radio station.

A man telephoned the station Saturday and told producer Mike Ciccone to check the company car. Ciccone found Smith’s tombstone on the car’s hood.

Cpl. John Skorupa said evidence indicates the person who stole the headstone also attacked Smith and Cockerill.

“We believe that, but we cannot say why,” Skorupa said.