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
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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.
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