ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997 TAG: 9702240103
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SAN JOSE, CALIF.
SOURCE: DAN REED SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS
One businesswoman wants to offer Mary Vincent a job. Other sympathetic souls want to send a few dollars to ease her way. And many want to help repair the mechanical hooks affixed to her arms - her hands since Larry Singleton raped and mutilated her in 1978.
Touched by the single mother's fall onto hard times, readers of the San Jose Mercury News and listeners of KGO radio in San Francisco on Friday offered donations to help lift the fortunes of a woman who has again been cast in the spotlight - and mentally jarred - by Wednesday's arrest of the man she still dreads.
``I'd like to give a big thank you,'' Vincent said Friday from her home in Tacoma, Wash. ``I'm glad there are nice people out there. That in itself helps me in my hope and belief, because, right now, the system shattered it a bit.''
Among other things, she feels the criminal justice system let her down when Singleton, the man who repeatedly raped her, chopped off her arms, and left her to die in a ditch near Modesto, was freed from prison after eight years - only to strike again this week in Florida, police allege.
On Friday, two days after he allegedly plunged a knife repeatedly into a prostitute at his Tampa, Fla., home, Singleton appeared in court but did not enter a plea. His public defender said he expected him to plead not guilty in the coming weeks.
For Vincent, Singleton's latest arrest has provided little relief.
Since her mother called to tell her of the killing of the 31-year-old mother of three in Florida, Vincent has been chilled by the flood of old, dark memories.
``I can't even think about it,'' she told the Mercury News in an exclusive interview Thursday. ``It's too devastating.''
She declared bankruptcy in 1995 and sometimes had to sleep in her car with the heater on to keep warm. She is struggling to get by, she said. Her prosthetic arms are partially broken down, making it impossible for her to do some daily tasks, and she cannot afford to have them fixed.
As the public reacted with anger toward Singleton, people showed charity toward Vincent.
A group of medical professionals at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek wants to help her, said surgical nurse Susan Miller.
Miller said the group will try to find Vincent new prosthetic equipment. ``I've talked to some occupational therapists about donating time,'' she said. ``We're hoping that she could learn a skill.''
One Mercury News reader said Vincent's fragile existence moved him to tears. ``The truth is I just cried,'' said Robert Knuist of Mountain View. ``I don't have much but I'd send her anything, that's just horrible ... This poor woman, hasn't she gone through enough?''
Ronn Owens, morning talk-show host on radio station KGO, said he was angered over Vincent's plight, and urged his listeners to help out.
``Let's get her out of debt, let's get her some real, 1997 arms,'' Owens said in an interview. ``Let's channel some of the anger we have for Larry Singleton into something positive.''
Donations to Mary Vincent may be made payable to the Mary Vincent Fund, c/o Mark E. Edwards Trust Account, 1800 E. 17th St., Suite 101, Santa Ana, Calif. 92705-8604.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Mary Vincent's son Luke adjusts his mother's earringby CNBas she talks to reporters Friday at a friend's shop in Tacoma,
Wash.