JESSICA FUNK-HASLAM - 13 yo - Rosemont CA

The mother of an eighth grader found dead at a Rosemont park Tuesday
morning says those behind her daughter's death may involve "at least one
girlfriend."
The victim, 13-year-old Jessica Funk-Haslam, was discovered
by a woman walking in Rosemont Community Park about 6:30 a.m. The body
was in the dugout of a softball field.


Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Jason Ramos said the
victim was last seen by her family about 5:30 Monday evening. Homicide
detectives were working to determine Funk-Haslam's whereabouts between
then and when she was found.

The girl's mother said in a phone conversation with News10, "I know
she's a teenager, she wants to be her age ... Being a parent, I wanted
to ease her into the world."

The mother said she had some "strong ideas" about what happened but "it's hard to speculate."

She added she believed neither gangs nor drugs were a factor.

Funk-Haslam's body showed signs of trauma, but Ramos did not speculate on a cause of death.

A Sacramento Police Department school resource officer went to nearby
Albert Einstein Middle School to check attendance records and make sure
the school had accounted for all absent students. Funk-Haslam was a
student, confirmed Gabe Ross, Sacramento City Unified School District
spokesman.

The district released this statement:
We are saddened and deeply troubled by the loss of a promising young
student. We continue to assist the Sheriff's Office with their
investigation and to provide support to the Albert Einstein school
community as they struggle to cope with this horrific news. School
officials are communicating information about this tragedy to families
and staff via automated phone calls. Crisis counselors will be
dispatched to the campus first thing tomorrow morning. Our hearts go out
to this child's family and friends in their time of grief.

It wasn't clear if the girl's family had reported her as missing.

A witness, who did not want to be identified, said they saw
two people near the park Monday night, sometime between 11 p.m. and
12:30 a.m. The witness said the people were wearing dark clothes and had
a flashlight. They sat on the bleachers between the park and school,
the witness said. They parked a vehicle in a parking lot near the
school.

Detectives did not comment on the witness's account.

Anyone with information on Funk-Haslam's actions between
5:30 p.m. Monday and 6:30 a.m. Tuesday was urged to contact the
sheriff's department at (916) 874-5115, Crime Alert at (916) 443-HELP,
or send a text message tip to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter SACTIP followed
by the tip information. Callers can remain anonymous and may be
eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.
http://www.news10.net/news/article/182550/2/UPDATE-Body-discovered-at-Rosemont-park-a-juvenile?odyssey=tab|topnews|bc|large

Thursday, Sacramento County detectives showed up at Albert Einstein Middle School
to talk to three or four students and to take DNA cheek swabs from them.It's
the latest development in the frustratingly slow investigation into the
murder of 13-year-old Jessica Funk Haslam. While surveillance video was
taken from Rosemont Park the night of Jessica's murder, this is the
first mention of a possible DNA link to the case.

"My child's in a room with
two detectives being questioned and grilled and I’m sure he was quite
frightened, which is very upsetting,” said Michaela Brown, the mother of
one of the students that was questioned.

Brown says a friend of her son who's also been questioned
more than once in this investigation has left the school because of the
treatment of other students who found out.
FOX40 received a message Monday morning that questioned whether those students who had
DNA taken should have had their parents with them.
Surprisingly, the answer is no.
"Regardless of whether the individual is an adult or a juvenile, they are capable
of giving consent. We don't require the consent of a parent if we're
doing it with someone of a younger age," said Deputy Jason Ramos of the
Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
FOX40 legal analyst Ken Rosenfeld agrees.
"Ideally, you'd want the juvenile's parents or legal guardian there, but the
police don't have to have them there to take a DNA swab," Rosenfeld said.
If detectives had wanted to draw blood from the middle
schoolers, then a parent would have to be present and because of the 4th
amendment. Detectives would also need a warrant.
"As long as it's a non-invasive procedure - a cotton swab, taking a soda can after
somebody drinks from it, or a water bottle after someone drinks from it
-- that's going to be fine, that's going to be allowed," said Rosenfeld.
Administrators at Albert Einstein met their legal obligations by calling the parents
and telling them what was happening, though in at least one case a
voicemail message was left for a parent.
"Anytime authorities come to our school and want to talk to our students, our first priority is
to make sure we let parents know immediately," said Gabe Ross of the
Sacramento City Unified School District.
Tara Funk-Haslam, Jessica's mother, spoke with FOX40 Monday afternoon
about the developments in the investigation.
"I do believe 100 percent in what everybody's doing as far as with the
Sheriff's Department,” said Funk-Haslam. “At this point I do have faith
in that what they're doing will find who's responsible for this."
http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-dna-samples-taken-from-students-in-case-of-murdered-8th-grader-20120416,0,5478449.story

Jessica Funk-Haslam murder case update
7:34 PM, Mar 15, 2012



http://www.news10.net/news/article/184403/2/Detectives-to-release-new-information-on-slain-girl-probe

Surveillance video shows Jessica Funk-Haslam at park
UPDATED 8:20 PM PDT Sep 06, 2012

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sacramento/Surveillance-video-shows-Jessica-Funk-Haslam-at-park/-/12969376/16511568/-/ypk2moz/-/index.html#ixzz25ndNPZWO

Jessica Funk-Haslam Update: Surveillance Shows Teen Prior to Murder

September 06, 2012 09:25 PM EDT
by Chelsea Hoffman



Jessica Funk-Haslam was murdered in Rosemont, California, six months ago, and a suspect still hasn't been found. This isn't a positive element in the investigation behind her brutal death, as it appears that detectives are stumped. Maybe that's why they're offering up surveillance footage of the murdered 13-year-old just prior to her murder.

he 30 seconds of footage shows 13-year-old Jessica Funk-Haslam walking around a corner in a neighborhood near the park in which her body was discovered. Could this neighborhood be the key to who murdered Jessica?

It's already common knowledge that earlier surveillance footage shows a man running from the park around the same time Jessica was murdered—and people neighboring the park claimed to hear screams at around 8:00 p.m., the night the girl was killed. Could the man be from the neighborhood captured in the new footage released?

It's hopeful that this murder doesn't become another cold case, but with six months passed, it's hard to determine the direction things may travel.

http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474981613515