Oregon Daily
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12. 1993
EUGENE. OREGON
VOLUME 94, ISSUE 101
Police find suspect in 1978 Eugene murder case
□ Prisoner who bragged of 10
murders is suspect in investigation
By Matt Bender
Emerald Reporter
Police announced Thursday they have a suspect in a
15-year-old homicide of a Eugene girl, and are hoping
citizens will provide new information that will lead to
a conviction.
The Eugene police department reopened the investi
gation of the murder of Karen Whiteside and have found
a focal suspect. Whiteside was 16 years old when her
body was found at Fairfield Elementary School In
Eugene in March 1978.
Police now suspect Manuel "Manny" Code* in the
Whiteside murder, said EPD Sgt. Rick Gilliam Cortez is
currently serving a double-Jife sentence at the Oregon
State Penitentiary for the 1979 murder of two 11 year-old
Ashland girls.
About one year ago, EPD Detective l-os Rainey was
assigned the Whiteside case. He said Cortez became a
suspect because of the similarities between Cortez's past
crimes and the Whiteside case.
Cortez's victims were all young girls who were walk
ing in public areas when they were abducted Ramey
said all of the abductions were sexually motivated and
cm ierred in close proximity to Cortez's residence. At the
time of the Whiteside murder, Cortez lived about « inili<
from whore the girl's body was found
Rainey said polit e have Information that Cortez has
boasted he had killed ns many as U1 people
In addition to being convicted for the murder of the
two Ashland girls, Cortez, was twit e arrested in Califor
nia on charges of kidnapping and rape in 197(i. He was
also charged with attempted kidnapping of two separate
California girls in 1975 and 1977 and an Ashland girl in
1979
Cortez is also a suspect in the 1977 murders of a lit
year-old woman and a seven-year-old girl in l.os Ange
les. Calif,
Committee promotes rule
to crack down on stalkers
□ Women’s complaints of
stalking demand change in
Student Conduct Code
By Mandy Baucum
Emerald Contributor
University student Stephanie Stover
was unable to study. go to class or walk
home without feeling uncomfortable
because of the unwanted actions a male
student was making toward her.
The man would ask her if he could
walk her home and Stover would say no.
Me would follow her anyway. She said
she tried in vain to rid herself of the stalk
er's strange behavior.
Stover said she was not the only one
whose life was disrupted as a result of the
man's unwanted itehavior. Apparently the
same man had been frequenting the Hon
ors College. Stover said she knew of eight
other woman who complained that they,
too. were followed by the man despite
their protests.
Stover and the others went to Honors
College offic ials in hopes of finding lego!
recourse against their offender
Stover said the Honors College could
do little to help and so referred Stover and
the others to Elaine Green, student con
duct coordinator with the Dean of Stu
dents Office.
A representative for the group of
women approached Green for assistance.
Green said although the Honors College
incident did not raise concern over the
girls' lives, it did raise enough concern to
consider revising student conduct codes
"We began the process with the
Unwanted .Sexual Behavior task force
looking into revising conduct code so that
it more clearly addressed issues of stalk
ing." Green said.
Stover said Green told her little could
be done because tho stalker never had
physical contact with the women.
But some of the women had been
touched. Stover said. When she told
Green. Green said nothing could be done
because too much time had passed for
Proposed bill
aims at stalkers
Q Legislature will vote on
bill that would make
stalking a Class C felony
By Lisa Kneefei
Emerak) Associate Editor
Stalking will become e crime in
Oregon if a bill proposed in the House
of Representatives is adopted by the
Legislature.
Rap. Kevin L. Mannix. D-Salem,
introduced legislation {an. 15 that
would make stalking a Class C felony
punishable by up to five years in
prison or a $100,000 fine.
Mannix said he drafted the legisla
tion because no statutes outlawing
stalking currently exist. There are
statutes covering crimes related to
stalking, such as trespassing or bur
glary, but following a person is not a
crime, Mannix said.
“Unleas you can establish they had
threatened to harm you. it's not a
crime,” Mannix said.
A person commits the act of stalking
Turn to BILL. Page 6A
legal action to tie taken.
"The University has to react within six
months of being notified of an incident."
Green said. "In this case we were notified,
but there was not a complaint filed."
In response to the Honors College
events and stalking reports made to the
University Office of Public Safety, the
USB task force, which began three years
ago. formed a special stalking committee
to deal with some of the more difficult-to
define cases of misconduct.
Turn to STALKER, Page 5A
Read all about it
Ptx*o by l*mbmr\
Dana Zyrasky takes a closer look at a book sculpture outside the
addition to the Knight Library
WEATHER
Mostly cloudy skies with a
couple of showers
Temperatures should remain in
the upper 40s.
Today in History
In 1940. the radio play The
Adventures of Superman began
airing on the Mutual netwoni
with Bud Collyer as the Man of
Steel.
PAUL & ART TO REUNITE
LOS ANCLES (AP) - Paul Simon and Art Carfunkal, whose hits The
Sound of Silence* and 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' enraptured a genera
tion. will reunite next month for a concert to benefit homeless kids.
The March 1 acoustical performance at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
will benefit Children s Health Fund, which provides free health care to
thousands of homeless and needy children, said event spokeswoman
Debbv Klein.
Tickets at prices ranging from $100 to $500 go on sale Monday
The concert also will feature a performance by Neil Young and an
appearance by comic-actor Steve Martin.
_SPORTS
The Oregon men's golf learn will return from a three month
break to begin its spring season this week when it plays in
the Big Island Intercollegiate in Kona. Hawaii February 12
14.
The Ducks are coming off a disappointing fall season when
they finished in the top five at only two of their four tourna
ments. The team hopes the extended layoff will help
"We didn't play to our full abilities in the fall,* Oregon
head coach Steve Nosier said. ‘All of our guys want to see us
succeed in the spring so we can advance to regionals and
hopefully nationals *