McSherry

BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

1. The initial descriptions of the suspect and car

In March of 1988, a six-year-old girl was kidnaped from a playground on a Navy base in Long Beach, California. She was molested and raped by her kidnapper and then released. The abduction was witnessed by her four-year-old brother. Within ten hours of the kidnaping, LBPD patrol officers inter- viewed her. Initially she described her kidnapper as a short, fat, white male with black hair, who was older than her grand- father. Her brother told police that the man who took his sister was “red in color” and had black hair. Both sister and brother said the suspect made her get into a green car.

Shortly after the victim’s return, a neighbor, Robin Davis (“Davis”), reported she had seen a white male, thirty-five years old or older, 5’7”-5’9” tall, heavy, with dark brown to black hair, a mustache, heavy black eyebrows, and a chubby pock-marked face, in the area on the day the victim was abducted. Davis said she saw an unattended 1970’s model, dark green, larger model pickup truck with a white cab-over camper in the parking lot by the playground.

2. Photo and physical identifications of…