ON THE WINGS OF THEIR ANGELS: THE SCOTT CAMPBELL, STEPHANIE ROPER, WENDY PRESTON, LOUARNA GILLIS, AND NILA LYNN CRIME VICTIMS' RIGHTS ACT

I. INTRODUCTION 1 Scott Campbell, 27, the only son of Gary and Collene Campbell, was last seen on April 16, 1982. He had planned to fly in a private plane to Fargo, North Dakota with a man named Larry Cowell. Unbeknownst to Scott, Cowell and another man, Donald Dimascio, planned to murder Scott. Dimascio was hiding in the back of the plane. He broke Scott's neck and then the killers threw Scott's body into the ocean, somewhere between the mainland of Southern California and Catalina Island. His body was never found. During the trials, Scott's family was barred from entering the courtroom, while the defendants' families were ushered to reserved seats. Gary and Collene were never notified of proceedings in the case in the District Court of Appeals, or of the pre-trial release of one of the killers. They were never allowed to speak at critical stages of the proceedings, including the sentencing for both murderers. Stephanie Roper, 22, was the daughter of Roberta and Vince Roper of Maryland. She was kidnapped by two men after her car broke down on April 3, 1982. Over the next five hours, they repeatedly raped and tortured her. They then took her to a deserted shack in another county and repeated these crimes. Stephanie made several attempts to escape. When the killers recaptured her for the last time, they beat her with logging chains, shot her to death, burned her body, and attempted to dismember her. During the trials of the killers ...