I Would Find a Girl Walking by Diana Montané, Kathy Kelly Page B

early twenties.”
    “What appeared to be wrong with her car and what was she appearing to be doing about it?” asked Elwell, wanting to get the entire picture of when the girl first got in trouble.
    “She had the hood of the car up and we pulled over. We had the top down, and we asked her, I leaned up and said, ‘What’s wrong?’ She said, ‘My car won’t start.’ I said, ‘Let me give it a try.’ She was happy because two guys were going to give her a hand to try to start her car. I immediately got in her car and turned the key and found out it was a dead battery. So Sammy pulled his car around front, broke out his cables out of his trunk and we charged or whatever fast-jumped his car to her car. And we got it started. And I told her, ‘Let’s charge your battery up a little bit and I drive it a little bit and you ride with me so you won’t think I want to steal your car,’” Stano said.
    “Her motor had a slight knock coming from it, which didn’t sound right to me. So, I locked up my car, and we drove off in her car. It seemed to me she liked the way mine looked. But hers was a mess though.” 19
    Had Barbara Bauer been more street-smart, she would have realized that the helpful stranger was overstepping the mere act of helping a stranded driver. He continued to reassure her, “We will drive it just a little ways. I will make sure your battery is going to hold for you.”
    “What was on your mind at that time?” Elwell began to direct.
    “Hoping to have a little sex with the young lady,” Stano said. During the course of the interview, he used the eerie juxtaposition of “sex” and “young lady,” as if he were escorting a girl to a picnic.
    “Had you and Henderson had any conversations with one another before you came up to the car where this young girl was disabled?”
    Stano nodded. “Yes, we were hoping to find a couple of young ladies that night for a good evening.” He then added that he had noticed the girl first and that Sammy hadn’t said anything about her until he, Stano, started jumping her car battery.
    “He said that she looked pretty cute and he wouldn’t mind having a piece of that.”
    “After her car was started, did she agree to let you drive her car?” The attorney wanted to know if the victim had been forced or coerced in any way.
    Stano smiled. “No, as a matter of fact she was very happy because she didn’t know much about after you jump-start a car whether it was going to start again after you turn it off or not.”
    “Is there anything you noticed particularly about her car other than the make and model? Anything about the contents of the car, anything special in the car?”
    “There was some red fabric in the back. I’m nuts for red and that caught my eye.”
    The school colors of New Smyrna Beach High School are red and black. Their mascot is a barracuda.
    “Can you tell us more about that red fabric?” Elwell did not want to leave any loose ends.
    “It was like a smooth on one side and like a crushed velvet on the other side, something like that.”
    “How much fabric did there appear to be?”
    “Enough to make a blouse or a skirt.”
    “Where was it located in the car?”
    “It was located in the backseat in her car in a bag.” Stano motioned as if to place it there.
    “Can you tell us more about the bag?”
    “It has a Hancock Fabric Shop label on it.” Barbara was obviously headed home to sew her cheerleading outfit when her car malfunctioned.
    Elwell continued.
    “So you got into the car and began driving. Did you say anything to Sammy about going?”
    Stano nodded again. “I said, ‘Sammy, just follow us a ways while I charge up the battery,’ because I noticed that her alternator gauge is running all the way over the C which seems to me that her alternator is bad. And then after a while he came to the normal position after an hour’s worth of driving.”
    “Where did you begin driving in the car with her?” The attorney now wanted