Damn It! Not Again! The Abduction and Murder of Lily Burk

Burk family photo.

The scenario is all too familiar: A girl in her late teens goes missing. A worried family tries calling her by cell phone. The police are called. A search begins. A body is found. A family is left grieving.

Ever since the abduction and murder of Kelsey Smith of Overland Park, Kansas in June 2007, my concern over the safety of young women had heightened. Time and again, we see repeatedly news stories of the abduction of girls and women over the media.

This concerns me as a father of a 22-year-old daughter who is in her senior year in college. That is why the cases involving Amber Dubois, Kara Kopetsky and others have caught my attention along with the case of Kelsey Smith.

Now we have another abduction and murder of a young girl, age 17. Her name is Lily Burk. Sadder yet, she was an only child.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Police said Burk left her Los Feliz home at about 2 p.m. Friday and later made at least two calls to her parents asking how to get cash from an ATM machine using her credit card. Investigators said that it appears she died from blunt force trauma. Her death is being investigated as a homicide.

As in the Kelsey Smith case, a cell phone is a major player in the investigation. Her parents frantically tried calling her. The pings picked up indicated that her movements were moving in an eastward direction. Los Feliz is near Hollywood and her vehicle with her body was found just east of downtown Los Angeles at the intersection of Alameda Ave. and 5th Street. She was found yesterday.

The intersection Burk was found is in an area I patrol frequently as a field supervisor for Securitas USA.

Again, the victim was one with career aspirations:

“Lily was looking forward to going to college, to being a writer, to what was ahead,” her parents said in the statement. “She had a really bright future and it was cut short. If there is anything that people can take away from this horrible tragedy, it’s that life is fragile and that they should live every minute of it fully.”

From the Los Angeles Times:

"She was my best friend," Deborah Drooz, 54, said of her only child. "She was warm and funny and incredibly gifted verbally. We read books together. We loved each other very much. She was looking forward to her life."

Sgt. Miguel Arana of the Los Angeles Police Department said there were signs of a struggle inside the car. Lily appeared to have head injuries from striking the passenger side of the front windshield, but the car did not show signs of having been in a crash, he said.

Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz said that the cause of death appeared to be blunt force trauma and that there was "strong evidence" that Lily was killed by 5 p.m. Friday. He declined to disclose more details.

Drooz and her husband, Gregory Burk, 59, said their daughter left home about 2:30 p.m. Friday to pick up exams for her mother, an attorney and an adjunct professor at Southwestern University School of Law on Wilshire Boulevard, near downtown.

Lily picked up the papers and, more than an hour later, made separate calls to each of her parents, asking them how to get cash using her credit card at an ATM, police said.

Lily seemed in a rush, her father said, but not frightened. She said she needed money to buy shoes. Her parents said they told her to come home.

When she had not returned by 5 p.m., her parents became worried.

The latest news reports are that police are closing in on a suspect in Burk's murder. I suspect that she was being forced to withdraw money from her credit card but didn't know how to do so and went to several of them. Her abductor may be seen with her in videos taken from ATM cameras. (Again, this is just me speculating, nothing official.)

Hopefully, the police will capture the killer of Lily Burk and get him off the streets. But there are others out there.

The Kelsey Smith Foundation (or Kelsey's Army) has tips for young women and girls on how to be aware of their surroundings. Although they are permanently posted on this blog, I am going to post them here as it bears repeating:

1. Trust your instincts - If something feels wrong then something probably is wrong.

2. Know your surroundings - know who and what is around you.

3. Always have a plan for where you would go and what you would do if a situation arises.

4. Be willing to make a scene in order to be noticed,

5. Let someone know where you are going and when you will be back.

Remember the acronym TIPS:

Take Charge

Inform others of your whereabouts

Prepare for any situation

Survival Mentality (role play situations so you will respond should they happen).

For more information on personal safety, contact Kelsey's Army.

UPDATE (7/27/09): The Los Angeles Police Department had made an arrest in the murder of Lily Burk.

According to MyFoxLA:

The Los Angeles Police Department announced today it had made an arrest in the death of 17-year-old Lily Burk, whose body was found in her car near Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles over the weekend.

Charlie Samuel, 50, of Los Angeles was booked for murder and being held without bail, the LAPD reported. He was arrested Sunday night, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Web site.

The teen "is believed to have been the victim of a botched robbery," according to the LAPD statement.

The LAPD has scheduled a press conference on the case for 11:00 this morning. Let's hope they have solid evidence to put this animal away for good or the death penalty. Kudos to the LAPD for the swift arrest!