On April 8th, 1988, 150 people attended April Tinsley’s memorial service, at the Faith United Methodist Church. On April 5th, a motorist came forward to say he had seen a blue pickup near the crime scene. Officers searched the surrounding area where April’s body was found and found the missing shoe which was around 800 feet away on the opposite side of the road, as well as a sex toy in a shopping bag. Investigators believed the suspect was someone who lived in Fort Wayne and the individual wanted her body to be found.
The autopsy results confirmed she had been sexually assaulted. Unfortunately, this was April’s body.īased on the physical evidence police believed April was suffocated, she was found fully clothed except for one of her shoes was missing. Then around 3:30 pm, a man was on a jog when he saw a body on the side of the road, in a ditch around 40ft from the road. On April 4th, a police task force of 25 officers joined up with a search party of 50 people who searched the whole area. However, they were unable to find her and police assumed she had been abducted. Police went out to search for April, they searched a 20 block area from where she was last seen. When police arrived at Janet’s house she gave them a photo of April and told them April was wearing a blue turtle neck sweater, a pink and red jacket, light blue pants with 3 hearts on the left leg, and pink shoes. Janet called the Fort Wayne police around 6 pm. Janet and Michael as well as friends and neighbors went out to search around the area for April, they were unable to find her so they called the police. However, Nicole’s mum says April never made it to her house to get her umbrella. On their way home, April realized she had forgotten her umbrella at Nicole’s house, Nicole was going to another friend’s house so they parted ways, and April made her way alone back to Nicole’s house.
When 4 pm came April had not come home, so Janet waited around a little then decided to call Nicole’s mum and she told Janet that Nicole and April were playing in a playground and left a little after 3 pm. When April arrived at her friend Nicole’s house she called her mum to let her know she had arrived, her mother reminded April to be home between 3:30 pm and 4 pm. On April 1st, 1988, April Tinsley was in first grade, she had gotten out of school early that day and went home, had lunch with her mum when she asked if she can go over to a friend’s house to play.Īpril’s mum Janet told her to call her as soon as she arrives at the friend’s house. Everyone adored April, Janet also said April was shy but when she would go out to play with her friends, she would be out for hours. She was described as a very sweet girl and well-liked in school, her mum said she was a fun, loving person, she was just the perfect daughter Janet always wanted. That name was Ray Anthony Chapa, who was just 19 years old in 1986.April Marie Tinsley was born March 18th, 1980 in Fort Wayne, Indiana to parents Janet and Michael Tinsley. "They did the advanced testing and did forensic genealogy and came up with a name for us," Bowen said. DNA from Love’s case was sent to UNT’s Center for Human Identification.
With little evidence, the investigation ran cold.īut in 2020, a DOJ grant allowed Bedford detectives to pursue advanced DNA testing on sexual assault cases.
"We looked at a lot of serial offenders over the years, trying to match somebody up to this," said Bedford Police Sgt. On April 24, 1986, Love’s body was discovered by coworkers inside of her apartment on L Don Dodson Drive. "We knew that she was wise enough to take precautions and be as safe and careful as possible," Roberts said. to midnight.Īnd though Love lived alone, Roberts says her family never worried about their fiercely independent family member. Originally from Louisiana, 32-year-old Love had moved to Bedford in 1985 to work as a ticket agent for Delta Airlines at DFW Airport. "None of it’s going to bring her back, but it is some sense of justice," Roberts said You think you’ve put it to bed, but it just comes right back," she said.īedford police say DNA from the 1986 crime scene confirms Love’s killer was Ray Anthony Chapa, who is now dead. Rebecca Roberts finally has a long-awaited sense of closure more than three decades after her sister’s murder.