Neighbor arrested for murder; investigators temporarily rule out chatroom abductor

By Melissa A. Wabnitz

Transcript Staff Writer

PURCELL -- Just steps from her father's apartment on N. 8th St, investigators said they identified and apprehended Friday afternoon a 26-year-old man they believe is responsible for the kidnapping and subsequent murder of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin.

Bolin was reported missing after she failed to return home Wednesday afternoon from a trip to the library.

A downstairs neighbor, Kevin Ray Underwood, is being held without bond in the McClain County Jail today and will be charged with one count of first degree murder Monday, said District Attorney Tim Kuykendall at a press conference late Friday night.

"In my 24 years as a prosecutor, I have never, ever been involved in a case that was quite as atrocious, heinous and as cruel as to what happened to this little girl," Kuykendall said. "We intend to seek the death penalty on this."

As of press time, officials were securing search warrants for Underwood's car and apartment, both sites which may yield even more charges, Kuykendall said.

Earlier in the investigation, it was believed Bolin was abducted by a possible Internet contact who drove a dark blue Tahoe. Friday night, Kuykendall said "as it turns out, the information is probably going to be unrelated (to Bolin's murder)."

Police apprehended Underwood at his apartment around 4 p.m. Friday after he began acting suspiciously at a police roadblock earlier that day.

The neighbor, said Bolin's aunt Linda Chiles, "pretty much kept to himself" and was relatively unknown to Bolin or her father, Curtis.

As of press time, Kim Carter of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, said he was unable to determine how long Bolin was kept alive at the apartment before she was killed, nor were officials able to release any details related to the ongoing investigation.

"This is not like TV, it will not be wrapped up in a 60-second present," he said.

Jamie's uncle, Mark Chiles, still reeling from the news that his 10-year-old niece was kidnapped, likely held against her will and killed, said he warned parents everywhere to "hold onto their kids tight."

"This happened less than 10 feet of where (her father lived)," he said. "People need to know who their neighbors are."