ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, August 24, 1996 TAG: 9608260059
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NORRISTOWN, PA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
A Bryn Mawr man does not know why he is a suspect in the death of George Mason University athlete Aimee Willard and has asked to see specific allegations against him.
Lawyers for Andrew Kobak filed a motion in a Montgomery County court Thursday seeking to unseal the warrant that initiated a search of his family's home in June.
The lawyers said it would give Kobak an opportunity to defend himself. Their request came a day after Judge Albert Subers ordered the warrant sealed for 30 more days.
``In general, there are times in law enforcement when you don't want the whole world to know what you know,'' said Bruce Castor, Montgomery County first assistant district attorney.
Willard, 22, of Brookhaven, was last seen leaving a suburban Philadelphia bar June 20. Her car was found about 2 a.m. on Interstate 476 in Delaware County, and her body was found in a North Philadelphia lot 14 hours later.
Willard had just come home for the summer after an athletic record-setting junior year at George Mason in Fairfax, where she played lacrosse and soccer.
Police never publicly named Kobak, 23, as a suspect, but police sources said in published reports he arrived at the I-476 off-ramp and began talking to officers on the day Willard was killed.
On June 25, state police went to Kobak's home with the sealed warrant and conducted a nine-hour search. They removed several bags and took Kobak to a hospital for blood samples. Authorities also impounded two cars.
``Mr. Kobak has been greatly stigmatized by the continuing insinuation that he may be responsible for the abduction and killing of Aimee Willard,'' according to the petition filed by his lawyers.
``Literally, his life has been ruined by the systematic leaks to the media by law enforcement that included his being identified as a suspect,'' his lawyers said.
Kobak's lawyers have denied he was at the site the day of the killing. They say he was on the highway at 1 a.m., but that was an hour before police found Willard's abandoned car.
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB