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By Kent Larsen
LDS Family's Adoption Hopes Dashed with Child's Murder
TROUTDALE, OREGON -- An LDS family's hopes to adopt a 20-month-old girl were
shattered last week when the child's troubled biological mother murdered her
in a busy park. The murder case has attracted heavy media attention in
Portland, Oregon, including coverage of the child's funeral, Tuesday, at an
LDS chapel in Troutdale, Oregon. Alexis Lopez was killed after the mother
persuaded a Oregon state Office for Services to Children and Families to let
her take a walk out of sight with the child.
Police and firefighters joined the LDS family, Alexis' foster family and her
biological family at the funeral, which was delayed because an unknown
caller tried to direct those attending to another LDS chapel in an apparent
hoax. At the funeral, Alexis was remembered as a happy child. "Alexis didn't
know she had a difficult life," said Sheila Kruger in her eulogy. "I knew
her to be a happy child, who was able to get the best from whatever
environment she was in. . . . When she was in our home, she certainly felt
like a member of our family, as if she belonged there." Kruger, with her
husband Steve, hoped to adopt Alexis. The LDS couple already adopted her
8-year-old half brother, Julian, several years ago. Steve Kruger called
Alexis' death troubling, both because of her age and because it was at the
hand of her mother, "Deep down we know there is no sense to be made of it,"
he said. "The hardest thing I've ever had to do was tell my adoptive son
that his biological mother had killed his half-sister."
Also speaking at the funeral was Mike Alexander, a foster parent who had
cared for Alexis for the last four months. He spoke of her sunny disposition
and growing vocabulary, "She was loved deeply," he said. "She was a
beautiful little person." Steve Kruger, Alexander and Alexis' father,
Fernando Lopez-Perez, carried the child's small coffin from the chapel
following the funeral. She was buried in a Catholic graveside service at
Finley Sunset Hills Cemetery.
Meanwhile, Alexis' devastated father, Fernando Lopez-Perez, is questioning
the role of the Office for Services to Children and Families in his
daughters death. Lopez-Perez, who was also seeking custody of the child,
can't understand how his former girlfriend got out of sight of the caseworker.
Alexis' mother, Sharon Y. Weston, lost custody of the child last October
after she threatened to kill or injure herself and the girl. But news
reports in Portland indicate that the caseworker, a 30-year veteran
described as quiet and reliable by co-workers, allowed Weston to push her
daughter around the park in a stroller and lost sight of them. Police say
that he was unaware that anything had happened when they found him 30
minutes later, after the crime had been committed.
Lopez-Perez says he can't understand how the caseworker allowed his daughter
out of sight, "The people who drove her to the park, why they didn't stay
with them to watch?" he said. Perez hadn't been allowed to see his daughter
for nearly four months and says caseworkers had told him he wasn't qualified
to care for the child until he took parenting classes, because he is a
single man. He was scheduled to finish the classes early next month.
Sources:
Slain girl, 'loved deeply,' is mourned
Portland OR Oregonian 18Jul01 D2
By Stuart Tomlinson: The Oregonian staff
Extended Family Lays Murdered Toddler To Rest
Portland OR KPAM AM860 18Jul01 D2
By Bill Cooper: KPAM
Father Questions State Care After Child's Murder
Portland OR KOIN TV6 17Jul01 D2
Girl's slaying spurs kindness of strangers
Portland OR Oregonian 14Jul01 D2
By Stuart Tomlinson: The Oregonian staff
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