Frank Atwood
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Frank Jarvis Atwood (January 29, 1956 - June 8, 2022) was an American child molester responsible for the 1984 abduction and murder of 8-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson. Atwood's conviction relied heavily on the evidence of accident reconstruction experts who were able to link Atwood's car to Hoskinson's bike.
Biography edit
Atwood was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1956. He had multiple convictions for sex offences against children and was on parole for abducting and molesting an 8-year-old boy at the time of Hoskinson's murder.
On September 17, 1984, 8-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson disappeared in Tucson, Arizona, while on her way to deliver a birthday card to her aunt. Her pink bicycle was found lying a few blocks away from her house and one block away from the local school. During the investigation, Sam Hall, a teacher at the elementary school, told police he had seen a suspicious-looking car parked near the school on the day of Hoskinson's disappearence and had written down the number plate. Other witnesses had seen this car driving round the neighbourhood, with one little girl claiming the driver had made a sexually obscene gesture at her. The number plate was traced to Atwood's parent's house, where he had been staying. Atwood's parents told police that he had left after Hoskinson's disappearence. Through a phone call, Atwood was tracked to Kerrville, Texas, and arrested by the FBI on suspicion of kidnapping.
Under interrogation, Atwood admitted that he had been the man driving the car but denied seeing Hoskinson. His travelling companion James McDonald largely corroborated Atwood's story; however, he claimed that at one point Atwood had left for two hours before returning with blood on his hands and clothes claiming to have stabbed a drug dealer. Two men who Atwood had stayed with for two nights after Hoskinson disappeared also claimed to have seen Atwood wearing bloody clothes, which he had burnt at their advice. The car Atwood had been driving was examined by accident reconstruction experts. Pink paint found on the car was linked to identical paint from Hoskinson's bike, and nickel plating found on the bike was linked to the car. A dent on the car's gravel pan was the right height and shape to have been caused by one of the bike's pedals, and damage to a mailbox post at the scene where the bike was found at around the same height as Atwood's car lent credence to the idea that it had collided with Hoskinson's bike.
Atwood was transferred back to Arizona and charged with kidnapping. On April 12, 1985, a human skull was found in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona. Dental records confirmed that the skull belonged to Vicki Hoskinson, and forensic analysis established that it had been buried around 48 hours after the disappearence. Atwood was then charged with murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death. Despite multiple appeals alleging police misconduct, ineffective counsel and insufficient evidence, Atwood was executed by lethal injection on June 8, 2022.