Tallahassee Democrat from Tallahassee, Florida • 3

(Tallahaaarf tbmarrat Monday, January 16, 1978 1 1 A The girls: victims of a tragedy I LEVY A brutal door to a new world 1 i 4k 7 I Bowman Levy BOWMAN Promise of life is snuffed out By ELLEN TEMPLETON Democrat staff writer Last week, Margaret Bowman wrote a letter to her great-uncle and great-aunt, promising to call them "as soon as things settle down a wee bit." It was a promise Margaret wouldn't keep. She was found beaten and strangled to death early Sunday morning, in her room at the Chi Omega Sorority house at Florida State University. A 21-year-old junior, Miss Bowman was majoring in art history. She was a loyal sorority sister, friends and relatives said, and she took part in rush activities with enthusiasm. She was also a member of the Student Senate.

"It's hard to talk about someone like that. She used to call and say, 'I've been thinking about said Eleanor McMullen, wife of Tallahassee attorney Fred McMullen, the murdered girl's great-uncle. In her letter to the McMullens, Miss Bowman thanked the couple for a check, a Christmas gift. "I bought a beautiful pair of earrings with it," she wrote. "They are little gold sea shells and I just love them." Until she graduated in December, Marilyn Keller had roomed with Miss Bowman for three quarters at the sorority house.

"She was a very sincere person, very artistic," Miss Keller, 21, remembered. "She wanted to work as a buyer in an art museum." Miss Keller, who now works as an insurance underwriter in Orlando, recalled Miss Bowman as a person who "liked the finer things in life very much." Lee Ann Staples, president-elect of the campus Pan-hellenic Association, said Miss Bowman was "a dynamic person." "She seemed to be liked by a lot of people," she said. "She was real cute vogue, slightly sophisticated. "She was a classy dresser." Mrs. McMullen remembered that her niece liked to dress up.

"We never saw her when she wasn't neat," she said. "We were proud of her." When she wasn't busy with government and sorority By SETH EFFRON Democrat staff writer Lisa Levy did not die, her father says she made a transition. "I believe in the universal God. I believe in reincarnation," her father, Sam Levy of Sarasota said shortly after learning of his daughter's death. "I believe her soul is going to make a good transition." Lisa, 20, was murdered at the Chi Omega sorority house near the Florida State University campus early Sunday morning.

Also murdered was her sorority sister Margaret Bowman, 21, of St. Petersburg. Two other sorority members, Karen Chandler and Kathy Kliner, were severly beaten by the attacker, who apparently sneaked into the house at 661 W. Jefferson St. through the back door in the early morning hours.

Ms. Levy, 20, a sophomore from St. Petersburg, was a fashion merchandising major at FSU. Her mother, Henny Levy who had been divorced from Lisa's father for about 12 years, would not talk with reporters Sunday about her daughter. "I don't blame anyone," her father said as he choked back tears.

"That's our destiny and we can't change anything about it." Lisa's activities with the sorority were apparently the extent of her out-of-class activities at FSU. To finance her education and her membership in the sorority, Lisa worked full-time at the Colony Shop clothing store in the Tallahassee Mall and at a local military surplus store. During the summer and on vacations, Lisa worked at the Colony Shop in the Tyron Mall in St. Petersburg. Pam Thatcher, the assistant manager of the St.

Petersburg Colony Shop, said Lisa was the kind of person her co-workers liked even though their jobs forced them to compete with her. "She was the top sales girl in Tallahassee and when she came down here she usually was No. 1 or 2," Ms. Thatcher said. "She was really gung ho.

She got along with people even though her sales were greater. And that's not an easy thing to do in sales. activities, Miss Bowman wrote to her aunt and uncle, she found her classes "quite satisfactory." She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bowman.

The family moved to St. Petersburg in 1973, when her father retired from the U.S. Air Force. After graduating in 1975 from St. Petersburg High, Miss Bowman enrolled at FSU.

She pledged with Chi Omega and busied herself with student government activities. Miss Bowman was described by several people as a regular church-goer. She was a member of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church in St. Petersburg.

And she liked to go out and have fun. She had lots of dates, her aunt recalled. "She always had a boy hanging around. She was a very vivacious girl." "I guess you could call her the average sorority person," Miss Staples said. "She was a very ambitious girl," Miss Keller remembered.

"The future she was looking forward to it very much." Funeral arrangements will be announced by Wil-helm-Thurston Funeral Home of St. Petersburg. "Everybody just loved her here, and in this business, that's unusual." The two spent a good bit of time together this summer, while Lisa was working in St. Petersburg. "We went to see 'Star Wars' together and we were planning to go to Disney World over Easter vacation," she said.

Lisa played flute for the St. Petersburg Dixie Hollins High School band and was also a majorette. She had been a twirler since she attended Azalia Middle School in St. Petersburg. From 1970 to 1975 she was listed in "Who's Who of Baton Twirling" in America.

She also worked on the high school yearbook. Her activities in high school had to take a back seat in college. While her sorority sisters describe Lisa as friendly and outgoing, some confided they really did not know her that well. They said much of her time was spent with work or her studies. A friend from St.

Petersburg recalled her worries during the summer about the number of rapes reported in the Park Avenue area. She was a member of Congregation B'Nai Israel synagogue in St. Petersburg. She lived with her mother, and her brother, Fred, is stationed with the Air Force in Maine. The funeral will be conducted at 1 1 a.m.

Tuesday at the Williams Funeral Home in St. Petersburg. Kathy Kleiner was active in 1 church activities. Friends de- scribed her as a person who likes I--' people. 'She's concerned about I other Karen Silver said.

CHANDLER She was worried about safety KLEINER She didn 't make it to church Sunday yy -m Li, Only once did refer to her daughter's assailant: "I sure hope whoever it is, they catch him and lock him up for life." A sensitive girl, Karen Chandler may have a more difficult time adjusting to the deaths of her two sorority sisters than to her own injuries, said her friend, Pam Stidham. "I think the hardest part for her will be the other girls' deaths." Miss Stidham and others who knew Miss Chandler described her as friendly and well-liked. A 1974 graduate of Leon High, Miss Chandler-was editor of the school yearbook, the Lion's Tale. During her senior year, she won her school's award for excellence in journalism. She joined Chi Omega in her freshman year at FSU and was active in the sorority, friends said.

"When I lived with her, she was always studying. She was very conscientious," said a former FSU roommate, Betsy Moore of Tallahassee. Ms. Moore and other friends said Miss Chandler had been dating another student for about six months but was not engaged. A senior majoring in fashion merchandising, Miss Chandler plans a career as a buyer, her mother said.

During visits to Georgia Tech with Pam Stidham, she talked about trying to get an internship with an Atlanta department store. "We talked about living together while she was here:" said Miss Stidham. To help earn extra money for school and gain experience in merchandising, Miss Chandler worked parttime last year at J. Byron's department store in the Northwood Mall. She had quit during the latter part of last year and had started back to work about a week ago, said store manager Bradley Roberts.

"I'm so upset about this, I can hardly stand on my feet," said Helen Wheeler, manager of the dress department where Miss Chandler worked most of the time. "Karen Chandler is one of the loveliest girls I know," said Mrs. Wheeler. "She was very polite, very well bred, very interested in her studies. You knew when Karen called in and said she couldn't come to work, she was very ill." ByPATHARBOLT Democrat staff writer Last May, when a Florida State University student was brutally beaten, Chi Omega pledge master Karen Ann Chandler worried.

"She was concerned about the safety of the girls at the sorority house," said her longtime friend, Pam Stidham, who attended Leon High School with Miss Chandler. Miss Stidham, now a junior at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, said Miss Chandler had talked with her on more than one occasion about her concern. Early Sunday morning, Karen Ann Chandler, 21, was herself the victim of a brutal beating. As she and her sorority sister, Kathy Kleiner of Miami, slept in their second floor room at the Chi Omega house, their attacker bludgeoned them with some type of club. It took doctors more than four hours of surgery to repair Miss Chandler's battered face and broken arm, said her father, Alfred K.

Chandler, of 1567 Fernando Drive. Chandler said his daughter's jaw was broken in the attack and there were severe gashes or cuts about her face and forehead. "We're just thankful she was one of the fortunate ones," said Chandler, his voice tight with emotion. Chandler, an administrator for the Florida insurance department, and his wife, Ann, visited their daughter briefly after her surgery. Miss Chandler was conscious and able to talk to her parents but she is apparently still unaware of what happened to her, said Chandler.

"She hasn't made any statements about the attack," he said. "I guess there are some things you want to block out." Chandler said doctors were keeping his daughter under observation for possible brain damage. The Chandlers were awakened about 3:45 a.m. by a telephone call from a police dispatcher. "She said there was an assault at the Chi Omega House and that Karen was injured.

She said Karen was at or going to the hospital." The Chandlers arrived at the hospital before their daughter. Chandler By ED HARDEE Democrat staff writer Katherine Kleiner usually spends her Sunday mornings in church. She joined the Methodist Chapel of the Upper Room shortly after she came to Florida State University from Fort Lauderdale, more than a year ago. But Sunday, Kathy Kleiner wasn't in church. She was in Tallahassee Memorial Hospital, a victim of Sunday's brutal beating spree.

Kathy's friends came, though. Many of her Chi Omega sorority sisters came to hear the sermon. Jean Vaught, membership coordinator for the church, was there, too. And later, she talked about Kathy. "She's just terrific," Mrs.

Vaught said. "She's a very thoughtful, friendly, outgoing, sweet girl. She's really a very fine person." Kathy grew up in Fort Lauderdale went to school at Fort Lauderdale High. She liked drama, and particularly enjoyed pantomime. But she hadn't joined any drama groups at FSU because her work for the Methodist group kept her too busy.

"She ushers every Sunday, and she helps plan our programs. She's very friendly and helpful," Mrs. Vaught said. "She met her boyfriend here he's the head usher." David DeShields, her boyfriend, respected her parents' wishes that no comments be made until her condition improved. This past year, Kathy began enjoying a new interest her membership at the sorority.

The year before, she lived at Reynolds Hall on campus with a roommate, Karen Heath. "She's just fun, a good person," Miss Heath said Sunday night. "She isn't the partying type or anything like that." Miss Heath's roommate, Karen Silver, was the third member of their trio. "All three of us kind of stuck around together," she said. "She's a good Christian, and she's fun to be with.

She likes people. She's concerned about other people." When they saw their daughter at the hospital, she was weak from loss of blood but conscious. "I told her, 'You look like a little boy who's been in a She said, 'I guess I She didn't seem to know what had happened," said Mrs. Chandler. The Chandlers said they doubt their daughter is aware of the deaths of her sorority sisters, Margaret Bowman, 21, and Lisa Levy, 21, both of St.

Petersburg. "It's something you can't believe happens happening in Tallahassee," Mrs. Chandler told a friend who telephoned the family's Los Robles home late Sunday morning. Like her husband, Mrs. Chandler kept a tight reign on her emotions but tears occasionally filled her eyes as she talked about her daughter.

If there was anger or bitterness, Mrs. Chandler kept it to herself. THOMAS Attack victim described as 'mighty sweet girl' By DEANNA THOMPSON Democrat staff writer It was less than a week ago that Cheryl Anne Thomas asked her landlord's son to fix her broken bedroom window. She wasn't worried about intruders, the landlord's son, Ron Harvey, said. It was just that the doublehung window, with both panels stuck in the down position, was allowing a cold draft to invade her half of the duplex at 431-A Dunwoody Street, she told Harvey.

He helped her fix the window. They joked and talked about how healthy her green house plants looked compared to his. She locked the window, he said. It was another window, the kitchen window apparently left unlocked that an attacker used early Sunday morning to gain entry to Miss Thomas' one-bedroom duplex. "If the window was locked, you'd have be Houdini to get in," Harvey said.

The intruder lifted a black screen away from the window, climbed in and beat Miss Thomas with some type of blunt instrument. She remained in critical condition Sunday night. Her best friend, Nancy Young, who lived in the other half of the duplex, awoke to screams about 5 a.m. She called police. And then Miss Young went into seclusion.

Friends said she was in shock. The two, Nancy and Cheryl, did most things together, friends said. They were both dance majors. They shared a duplex because Miss Thomas liked to live alone, but stay in close touch with her friend Nancy. They had lived in the house for more than a year.

On Saturday, Miss Thomas had gone to a modern dance class, then to a rehearsal for the mid-February dance concert in which she was to have a featured role. She left rehearsal about 4 p.m. "It was just like normal," said fellow dance student Prentiss Mitchell Jr. "She's a really hard worker. She danced whenever she had a chance.

On several occasions, Mitchell, Miss Thomas and a group of friends had gone out for an evening of disco dancing at Stone-henge, a local nightspot. Mitchell found out about the attack from one of those friends. He still finds it hard to believe. "Cheryl was the most likable person," he said. "I'm really freaked out by it.

I hope they can catch him. "Maybe they can butcher him just like he butchered her." The senselessness of the attack. Why her? Why the pretty, friendly 22-year-old woman who gave her phone number to an aged neighbor in case she needed help? Hardiman said in a telephone interview. "I sure hope to God they find him. I could kill him with my bare hands if I could." Miss Thomas' parents flew here late Sunday afternoon from Richmond.

Her father, James is a retired Army lieutenant colonel. Just a week ago, Miss Thomas had called the police when a fight erupted in the street a couple houses up from where she lived, a neighbor said. The police came and broke up the fight. "She didn't date a whole lot," said Ron Harvey. "She was really doing her thing, going to school." His father, Doyle Harvey, said Miss Thomas was a conscientious tenant.

She always paid the $110 a month rent for her small, one-bedroom, living room, bath, apartment, he said. There were two locks on the front door and two locks on the back door, Harvey said. His son, Ron, guesssed that Miss Thomas might have opened the kitchen window her assailant used while cooking and then forgetten to close and lock it. The neighborhood, the residents said, has had few problems. There was the fighting in the streets last week, and now, this.

Mrs. Harvey said Miss Thomas and Miss Young stopped by often just to talk with her. She pulled out a slip of paper as she talked. They had written down their names and phone numbers for her. "They told me, "Anytime you need us, night or day, call Mrs.

Harvey said. "Those two girls have been so sweet to me. What happened last night was out of this world. It hurt me so bad, I just cried." Mrs. Harvey's son, Doyle, rented the house on Dunwoody Street to the two girls.

And not long ago, another girl had moved in with Miss Young, he said. Miss Thomas' passion was her dancing. She had taken lessons since she was a small child, whenever her father's Army duties took the family to a city where she could attend classes, her grandmother, Mavie Hardiman said. She wanted someday to perform with a dance company, a friend said. In Richmond, where her family lives, she had studied for one year with the Richmond Ballet Company.

After high school, she had spent a year as a secretary. And then, at age 20, she made her decision to leave her family in Richmond and come to Florida State University. She had heard good things about the dance school here, Mrs. Hardiman said. "She was a mighty sweet girl," Mrs.

Thomas They all asked that, including the 85-year-old neighbor, Nellie Harvey, two doors up the street. Miss Thomas had just returned from Christmas break; Mrs, Harvey from a Christmas trip to Macon. "Just last week, I was standing on my doorstep," Mrs. Harvey said. "Cheryl ran up and hugged and kissed me and said she was so glad to see me back.

She said, 'I'm in a hurry, but as soon as I get time, I'm going to come and talk to.