Family, friends and classmates say goodbye to 10 year old Jamie Bolin

Thursday, April 20th 2006, 5:51 am

By: News On 6

PURCELL, Okla. (AP) _ Jamie Rose Bolin, the 10-year-old girl whose body was found in the apartment of a man who authorities said intended to eat her corpse, was remembered Thursday as a friendly child who enjoyed watching movies, singing and sewing.

``Maybe heaven needed another rose to add to its bouquet,'' pastor Duane Elmore said to about 1,000 students, law enforcement officers and family members attending the funeral in the Purcell High School gymnasium. ``It only took her 10 years to earn her wings.''

Members of Jamie's Girl Scout troop wept during a video presentation chronicling moments in her life, including clowning around with friends.

A photograph of the girl along with a large bouquet of flowers was on top of the white casket bearing her body. Country music, including Oklahoma native Carrie Underwood's ``Jesus Take the Wheel'' played during the services. Members of the Purcell Police Department and other law enforcement officers attended the service and spoke briefly to members of the family.

Elmore attempted to comfort mourners by saying that Jamie was in a better place.

``I want to tell you today it's O.K.,'' said Elmore, who was the only speaker. ``She is with the Lord.''

Elmore told Jamie's family the community would continue to support them.

``Long after the cameras are gone and the headlines change, there will still be people in Purcell who love you,'' Elmore said, his voice quaking with emotion.

The funeral program said Jamie was fond of ``singing, sewing, riding four-wheelers and watching movies.'' A poem on the program included the stanza, ``Now you're gone from our sight, we'll see you every night when the stars shine bright.''

After the funeral service, the casket was placed in a white hearse for a 60-mile trip to Guthrie for burial.

Kevin Ray Underwood, 26, is charged with first-degree murder in Jamie's death. Prosecutors said he killed her and sexually abused the body. They will seek the death penalty.

A judge has entered a not guilty plea for Underwood, a grocery store stocker who was arrested Friday and held without bail after drawing suspicion at a checkpoint near the apartment complex where he and Jamie's family lived.

Underwood led authorities to the apartment, where they found Jamie's body in a large plastic tub sealed with duct tape in his bedroom closet.

Authorities believe Underwood lured the child into his apartment, beat her on the head with a wooden cutting board and suffocated her with his hands and duct tape. Jamie died of asphyxiation, authorities said.

Prosecutors have said meat tenderizer and barbecue skewers found in his apartment were intended for the little girl.

According to a police affidavit, Underwood confessed that he killed Jamie, telling FBI agents: ``Go ahead and arrest me. She is in there. I chopped her up.''

Police said that while there were deep saw marks on the girl's neck, she had not been dismembered.