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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 13, 1998)
McMenamin case remains open By Josh Funk Senior Reporter Back to square one. The ordeal began anew last month for Lincoln Police and the family and friends of Martina McMenamin after new DNA evidence cleared the man accused of brutally stabbing McMenamin, then a UNL sophomore, on July 25, 1995. McMenamin’s roommate, Sarah Bognich, found her lying in a pool of blood in their south Lincoln apartment. Almost a year after the crime, police arrested a suspect in June 1996 on suspicion of murder, and preliminary DNA testing matched his blood to a blond hair found at the scene. The past two years have been filled with preliminary hearings and competency evaluations to prepare for trial. But new DNA test results cleared the suspect, and he was released in mid-July. Now, a month later, McMenamin’s friends and fami ly want to keep the case in the public eye in the hope that new evidence may surface, and the killer will be found. “We want people to know we are not going to let Tina’s (Martina’s) case die,” Lou Friend, a friend of the family, said. McMenamin and Bognich baby-sat Friend’s children for two years before the murder. Friend said the hardest part of dealing with the murder was explaining to her kids why someone would do this. McMenamin’s family has established scholarships in her name at both Omaha’s Gross High School and UNL. The Tina McMenamin fund has also been established through NBC Bank, 1248 O St., to help pay for the murder investigation. Donations can be sent to the bank. After the McMenamin case is solved, any remaining money will help pay for other murder investigations in Lincoln, Friend said. As part of the investigation, Dolice established a small data base of DNA samples from peo ple connected to the case to rule them out as suspects. With nine murders in 1998 alone, Lincoln Police must con centrate their funds on more current cases, Friend said. Bognich and Friend released a video tape to local news media Tuesday of McMenamin and some friends at a Husker foot ball game. McMenamin, Bognich and the others donned their Husker red, painted their faces and went to Memorial Stadium to cele brate the team. Their spirit landed them on camera and later a local news cast. When Bognich recorded the footage that night it was just for fun. Now it is the only footage Bognich has of McMenamin alive and smiling, she said. “The tape is one of my favorite things to watch,” Bognich said. “To see her alive brings back memories.” McMenamin’s mother, Bernadette, still vividly remem bers how Tina followed the Huskers that year to their first National Championship in the ‘90s. Tina never saw the second championship. “I don’t want anybody to forget her (Tina),” Bernadette McMenamin said. “And if any thing can be done to help the police, that would be great.” Bognich said she wants the puDiic to see MCMenamin, tne person, not the victim. “We hope the public remem bers something when they see the tape,” Bognich said. Crimestoppers is offering a reward of $15,000 for informa tion leading to an arrest. At this point all those involved want the investigation to move along quickly so they can continue with their lives. If the person who did this is still out there, Friend said, she believed it would happen again. “Remember that this could have been anybody - anybody’s daughter, any college student.” Rebels, government fight for loyalty in Congo CONGO from page 2 week. Uganda and Rwanda were major backers of Kabila when he ousted longtime dictator Mobutu Sese Seko last year. But they have been angered by the Congolese president’s failure to contain attacks on their territory by renegade groups based in eastern Congo. With the fighting in remote areas inaccessible to journalists, independent confirmation of battlefield developments is next to impossible. The public is largely at the mercy of state- and rebel-controlled news. To believe their reports, how ever, both sides control the suaicgii iuwu ui DUKitvu in me east, both are advancing in the west near the Atlantic coastline. Rebel commander Jean Pierre Ondekane in the eastern city of Goma says he has 60,000 troops, the support of the people and an unstoppable drive to oust Kabila. For Kabila, the war of words may be as important to his sur vival as the war on the ground. Increasingly criticized at home since he took power, Kabila is maneuvering to win the support of the people through patriotic appeals and nationalist fervor. Using phrases like “savage aggression” and “premeditated attacks” to characterize Rwanda, Kabila is painting a picture of Congo as victim. “Rwandan leaders are hold ing Congo as a colony,” Kabila says in an often repeated broad cast on state television and radio. “They now think of con quering this country to subjugate your independence as a sover eign people.” In Kinshasa, Kabila’s words seem to be having the desired effect. Simmering anger at Kabila over economic stagnation and mass unemployment, a crack down on dissent and unfulfilled promises of democracy seem to have been set aside, while the capital apparently rallies to his snnnnrt -r J On a state television talk show, whose guests are a panel of local police officers, one speaker describes Rwanda as “a disobedient dog.” But for all Kabila’s readiness to demonize Rwanda, the rebel lion may be traceable to his own ineffectiveness. Congo’s contin ued economic malaise and inequity have created wide spread resentment in the coun try. On top of that, he stands accused of doing little to increase security in Congo’s tur bulent eastern border region. sw Mens and Womens r"* SUMMER Lincoln and Shoes for Men and Women ^—■■—■———Ml