One Year Later, Girl's Death Unsolved

Jan. 11, 2002 -- Since 16-year-old Christal Jones was found dead in a brothel in the Bronx a year ago, authorities say they have broken up two prostitution rings that lured troubled teen girls from Vermont, and revamped the ways the state deals with troubled kids.

But the girl's killer still hasn't been found.

Since Jan. 3 of last year when Jones was apparently drugged and suffocated, officials in Vermont, a state that has long prided itself on taking a progressive approach to environmental and social issues, has taken a hard look at its social services because the teenager was supposed to be in the care of the Social and Rehabilitation Services, a division of the Agency of Human Services.

And it turned out that Jones was not the only girl who had been lured away to New York by people allegedly looking for prostitutes. While some of the girls involved were already in the child welfare system, others had no apparent history of problems.

"It raised a whole host of issues because a lot of these kids were not known to the state," SRS commissioner William Young said. "It really was a loss of innocence."

State officials had not been unaware that there were prostitution rings bringing Vermont girls to New York City to be prostitutes, or that Jones was one of the girls who had fallen victim to one of the operations, according to an independent investigation of the matter that was commissioned by the SRS.

The report, released in April, did not fault the SRS or state or local police who knew of the rings, and Young said there was no reason to believe that anything could have been done to prevent Jones' death.

But it did spur the state to develop a plan that officials hope will prevent similar tragedies in the future. Among the provisions of the plan are increased security at residential care homes for teenagers, providing follow-up supervision for youths who have gone through substance abuse treatment, and improving communication among child welfare workers, law enforcement officers and corrections officials.

"We'd had children run away before and go to the city and prostitute themselves, but we've never had an organized ring before. In Vermont it is a big deal. A child's death has to mean something," Young said.

Tackling Teenage Drug Abuse

Besides dealing with whatever weaknesses in the child welfare system might allow youngsters to fall through the cracks, the state has also been trying to develop a plan to fight the teenage drug abuse problem that seems to have played a role in drawing girls into the prostitution rings.

Prosecutors say the man who lured Jones to the Bronx, 26-year-old Jose Rodriguez, used the promise of plentiful drugs and easy money to convince girls to go to New York to become prostitutes.

The state has reached out to communities, calling for proposals for programs that would help keep kids from getting involved in drugs in the first place, officials said. Among the ideas being proposed are mentoring programs and reaching out to teachers to help identify children who are considered to be at risk.

"When you have a tragedy like Christal Jones, it can get people to put more on their radar screens," said Dave Yacovone, director of administrative services at the Agency of Human Services.

The investigation of prostitution rings operating between Vermont and New York has led to the indictment of two people on separate charges by federal prosecutors in Burlington.

Last month, Beverly Holland, 39, was charged in an 11-count federal indictment accusing her of using an apartment in Burlington to solicit and train girls and young women to work for her as prostitutes in New York, where she rented another apartment.

Rodriguez is expected to admit guilt on at least some of the 20 counts he faces, when he appears before a U.S. District Court judge next week, on Jan. 17. On May 20 he pleaded not guilty to the charges, which included promoting prostitution and giving heroin or cocaine to three girls.

U.S. Attorney William Darrow said that the two rings were unrelated, but said that the investigation of the Rodriguez case led police to information about the other operation.

Although Rodriguez is the man prosecutors say lured Jones to New York, he was in jail at New York's Riker's Island, facing charges of promoting prostitution and statutory rape, at the time the Burlington girl was killed.

A Governor's Priority

In New York, though, Jones' killer has not been found, though police say the investigation is still active. They refused to comment on whether there were any developments in the case.

Though there were drugs in her system and it was initially believed that she had died of an overdose, it was eventually determined that she had been suffocated and her death was ruled a murder.

Vermont Gov. Howard Dean attended the girl's funeral and made developing measures to combat teenage drug abuse and to better care for troubled youngsters a priority.

In his state of the state address on Tuesday, Dean called on legislators to "create a $500,000 program to address the needs of what we've come to call 'high risk' youth — young people with emotional, physical or other difficulties that place them at high risk of developing significant problems."

The program would not require additional spending by the state, "simply a reallocation within the Agency of Human Services," Dean said.

"With children involved, these have always been issues that the governor has been intensely involved in," Young said. "It makes all the difference in the world."

But Jones' killer still hasn't been found.