Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 2, 1990                   TAG: 9007020209
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Medium

ABDUCTED GIRL'S FRIEND SAYS MAN FOLLOWED THEM

Friends and family members said they agreed at the time not to discuss the incident publicly because they did not want to hamper the police investigation. They told The Washington Post in a story for today that they are willing to discuss it now because they believe police have named the wrong suspect.

Rosie's best friend, Aimee Culotti, said last week that the two were watched by a man in a blue car parked on Lake Braddock Drive about 4 p.m. on July 2, 1989, as they headed toward Rosie's house to get her bicycle. While riding back to Aimee's house, they noticed that the car started slowly following them and they ducked into a town house development, she said.

"We just sort of pretended we were playing," said Aimee, 12. "We just kind of said, `Well, that was scary.' "

Debbie Culotti said her daughter told police about the car after Rosie's bicycle was discovered along Lake Braddock Drive and she was reported missing that night. Two residents of the area also told police about the blue car, which they had seen parked on Lake Braddock Drive and later pulling in and out of parking spaces in the town house development, she said.

"I'm convinced that there's an excellent chance that the man in the car is the man who abducted Rosie," said her father, Dave Gordon. "I'm also convinced that the man in the car was not Randy Breer."

Police Chief John E. Granfield announced at a news conference Aug. 18 that police investigating Rosie's slaying and four Northern Virginia sexual assaults had arrested Breer. He described Breer as "the person we think is responsible for these crimes." He has not been charged in her asphyxiation.

After the news conference, investigators learned that Breer, 28, a carpenter from Dale City, was attending a party at his employer's house in Stafford County, about 25 miles away, when Rosie disappeared. Despite the alibi, police continue to call Breer their "prime suspect."

Since his arrest, Breer has pleaded guilty to the four assaults and has told officials that he molested a fifth young girl in Prince William County, but he has continued to deny that he killed Rosie.

"He feels he's being wrongfully accused," said Breer's attorney, Richard J. McCue. "He doesn't know what he needs to do to convince police that he was not involved in the case."

McCue, who represented Breer in two of the assault cases, said that to keep naming Breer as the prime suspect is "more grossly unfair than making the announcement in the first place. If they haven't been able to get the evidence in a year, there isn't any."

Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr., who would make the decision about whether to prosecute the case, said he does not believe Breer killed Rosie. "I don't think there's a chance in the world Breer did it," he said.