DISAPPEARANCE
Eight year old Vicki came home from school, when her mom asked her to mail a birthday card to her aunt to a mail box about two blocks away from their cul-de-sac on Hadley Street. She'd never been allowed to be on her bike by herself, until that very day.
About thirty minutes later, Vicki hadn't returned and the family began worrying. Looking for Vicki, they found her bike in the middle of Pocito Place. Vicki was gone.
THE SEARCH
The Pima County Sheriff's Office were on sight immediate. The FBI was contacted. Volunteers came from across the community. Door to door knocks began. Dogs. Helicopters. four-wheel drive vehicles thru the dessert area nearby. They did things then without hesitation. The way our children should be searched for today. Still, No Vicki.
A tip finally came in that a dark-colored Datsun was seen in an alley near the school on the day Vicki was taken. While several people reported the same, one took down the plate number because the man in the vehicle gave the tipster a sense of evil.
FINDING VICKI
There was no word or sighting from Vicki, until seven months later when her remains were located on April 12, 1985, in a desert twenty miles from where she was taken. A man walking in the desert found a small human skull. After a more thorough search of the area, more bones were found, later to be confirmed these remains were in fact those of Vicki Lynne.
Vicki was buried on May 30, 1985 at the Evergreen Mortuary and Cemetery in Tucson, Arizona, in the presence of her family standing with hundreds of strangers and loved ones.
It was never known how Vicki died, or if there was a sexual assaults due to the condition of her remains when she was finally brought home.
SUSPECT
The vehicle given by the tipster was found September 20, 1984 in Kerrville, Texas. Atoowd was the driver.
Frank Jarvis Atwood was charged, found guilty and sentenced to death in 1987.
He was executed June 8, 2022.
OBITUARY
HOSKINSON, Vicki Lynne, 8, of Tucson. Found April 12, 1985. Survived by mother and stepfather, Debbie and George Carlson of Tucson; father and stepmother, Rodney and Tammy of Tucson; sisters, Stephanie of Tucson, and Carie of CA; brother, Brian of Tucson, and half-brother, Lawrence Hoskinson of Tucson; maternal grandparents, Carl and Lola Trimmer of Tucson; paternal grandmother, Thelma Hoskinson of Tucson; step-paternal grandparents, George and Betty Carlson of Tucson; maternal great-grandmother, Antonia Esquivel of Tucson; paternal great-grandparents, Chester and Olive Bayes of Tucson; step-paternal great-grandmother, Sara Dillaman of PA; and several aunts, uncles, and cousins. Funeral services Thursday, 10:00 a.m. at Casas Adobes Baptist Church, Ina & La Cholla, with the Rev. Wayne L. North, Emmanuel Baptist Church officiating. Burial Evergreen Cemetery. The family suggests remembrances be made to the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children, Pima County Victim Witness Program, or We The People. Arrangements by ADAIR FUNERAL HOMES.
Information by:
AZ Central News
Arizona Daily Star
Find a Grave