Teen's grave marked after 25 years

For nearly 26 years, her grave remained unmarked, an anonymous plot at Resthaven Cemetery.

Not anymore. Now Katrina Cheely, a 15-year-old murder victim whose body was found in a ditch after she disappeared in 1984, has a gleaming granite headstone, more elaborate than surrounding markers.

The stone shows a pink and gray cast. It has her picture, the figure of an angel shielding two small children and these words:

Kat

Her friendship

was an inspiration

Her love a blessing

On a November afternoon, the granite is warmed by sunlight falling between a pine tree and a coppery oak.

Katrina's mother, Linda, who moved far away from Wichita years ago and couldn't afford to mark her daughter's grave, has received a picture of the elaborate marker.

"It's absolutely gorgeous," said Linda, who asked that her last name not be used, for privacy and security.

"She deserves it," Linda said.

"You know, it's been a very long time."

The marker was installed more than a month ago at Resthaven, off West Kellogg.

It took about five years of effort from Katrina's junior high school friend, Dawn Turner Moler, now 40, to get the grave marked.

A graveside memorial service for Katrina has been scheduled for Nov. 16. The time has yet to be set. The public is invited.

Some of Katrina's brothers, who live outside Kansas, hope to attend the memorial, Moler said.

A satellite hook-up is being planned so Katrina's parents

can take part.

Moler's mission to mark her friend's grave began in 2005, when she went to put flowers at the grave and discovered that it hadn't been marked all those years.

The task took persistence.

It took years for Moler to locate Katrina's mother: Her permission was needed to place a marker.

Moler had to help raise about $3,500 for the headstone. Twenty-four people donated from $10 to $200. An anonymous donor gave $1,500.

On Nov. 16, 1984, Katrina disappeared from her home near Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. A few months later, on Feb. 28, 1985, a can collector found her nude body in a culvert on 151st Street West.

Authorities said she had been murdered; they charged a man, who was acquitted.

Danny Bardezbain, a retired Sedgwick County sheriff's major and now the Eastborough police chief, helped investigate Katrina's case.

"I always remember this case... because it was a child," Bardezbain said Friday.

"I think it's really neat that this friend of hers persisted through all these years, and she's finally got a marker."

Moler put bright yellow roses in a vase over Katrina's grave.

"The yellow rose is a sign of friendship," Moler said.

At the base of the vase, it says, "Always loved. Never forgotten."

"There absolutely isn't any way," Moler said, "that somebody's going to walk over her and not know she's there now."

This story was originally published November 8, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Teen's grave marked after 25 years."