CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 12, 1989 | MICHAEL CONNELLY and AMY LOUISE KAZMIN, Times Staff Writers
Wallace Scott Mann spent an all-day vigil Monday at the grave of his slain 7-year-old daughter in the Eternal Valley Memorial Park in Newhall, sometimes sitting near the grave, sometimes watching it from his car. A cemetery worker saw him use red paint to fill in the lines of the happy face and the heart carved on the stone that marks where Sara Nan Hodges lies.
NEWS
March 29, 1989 | From Times staff and wire service reports
A 14-year-old boy pleaded innocent today to charges that he strangled 7-year-old Sara Nan Hodges, whose decomposed body was found stuffed behind a water bed in his Newhall bedroom. Curtis Cooper, a neighbor of the victim, denied a single count of murder at his arraignment in Juvenile Court. Cooper was ordered by Juvenile Court Referee Jeff Wiatt to remain in custody without bail and to return to court April 25 to schedule a trial date.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 27, 1990
A Newhall teen-ager, described by his victim's mother as a "monster," was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison Friday for sexually molesting and murdering a 7-year-old neighbor, whose body was found stuffed behind the teen-ager's bed three days after she disappeared. Curtis Cooper, who was 14 when he strangled Sara Nan Hodges last March, will probably spend about 10 years in custody, because the California Youth Authority can only retain jurisdiction over him until he reaches age 25.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 1, 1989
Schoolmates, some friends and some strangers grieved with family and friends at Friday's funeral for Sara Nan Hodges, the 7-year-old Newhall girl found strangled last week at a neighbor's home. "She had a whole life ahead of her," said 11-year-old Nick Phavini of Santa Clarita, who rode buses for an hour with his friend, Trevor Bell, to join 90 people at Eternal Valley Mortuary. Trevor, also 11, fought tears speechlessly; he had met Sara when his contractor-father worked in the neighborhood.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 13, 1990 | PHILLIP GOLLNER and AMY LOUISE KAZMIN, TIMES STAFF WRITERS
The mother of Sara Nan Hodges, the 7-year-old Newhall girl who was strangled by a 14-year-old neighbor last year, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the boy, his mother and the woman who owned the house where they lived. The complaint filed by Linda Hodges on March 8 in San Fernando Superior Court seeks an unspecified amount of damages. It says Crystal Cooper should have known that her son, Curtis, was violent and that she failed to prevent him from harming others.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
March 26, 1989
A 7-year-old Santa Clarita girl who disappeared from her front yard remained missing Saturday as detectives investigated more than 75 tips phoned in to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Sara Nan Hodges, a blonde, blue-eyed first-grader, was last seen playing with neighborhood youngsters in front of her Alderbrook Drive home Thursday.