Stabbing of Vancouver teen hits community hard
02:35 PM PDT on Friday, April 21, 2006
By TERESA BELL and KRISTINA BRENNEMAN, kgw.com Staff
kgw.com/Vancouver Schools
A photo of Anna Svidersky from her high school yearbook.
VANCOUVER -- The deadly stabbing of a 17-year-old girl who made everyone smile is tearing the Vancouver community apart, said the Vancouver police chief Friday.
Anna Svidersky, a Fort Vancouver High School senior, was stabbed in the chest by a stranger while working at McDonald's Thursday night, said Police Chief Brian Martinek at a news conference.
"It's tearing us apart, quite frankly," he said. "There's no magic wall around Vancouver. We've had two young girls killed in the last six months," referring to the November 2005 murder of 14-year-old Chelsea Harrison.
Svidersky, who would have graduated in June, was taken to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland where she died around 9 p.m. Thursday. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday morning, Martinek said.
The suspect, David Barton Sullivan, was charged with first-degree murder Friday morning.
KGW photo
Police collect evidence at the crime scene.
"We preliminarily determined he had an intent to kill," Martinek said. "The suspect armed with a knife walked into one of the doors of McDonalds.... found the victim at a table and stabbed the victim. There's not a whole lot of question about what happened and who did it."
Many employees in the McDonalds saw what happened, he said.
The owner of the Vancouver McDonald's, Matt Hadwin, issued a statement saying, "We are shocked and saddened by this random act of violence against one of our employees. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends during this difficult time. We are fully cooperating with the Vancouver Police as they investigate this incident."
During a court appearance Friday in Clark County Superior Court, Sullivan was shaking and twitching. The judge ordered he be held without bail.
Sullivan, a registered sex offender in Washington state, will be arraigned on the murder charge April 28. He also has a criminal history that includes kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, according to court records.
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In addition, Sullivan, who lived at home, has a history of mental illness, said Police Chief Martinek.
Sullivan had pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment with sexual motivation in 2003 for trying to kidnap a 14-year-old girl in Vancouver. He was sent to Western State Hospital, treated for paranoid schizophrenia and found competent to stand trial. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail.
"This is obviously very tragic for everyone involved," he said. The Vancouver Police Department "wants to pass on its condolences to famiy, school and community."
Nancy Faaren, principal at Fort Vancouver High School said Svidersky's death "is a very sad day for Fort Vancouver High School. Svidersky was "well-liked by students and staff alike. She will be greatly missed by students and staff."
The senior had a good sense of humor and contagious laugh, and juggled several jobs as well as full-class load, she said.
School counselors would be helping students with their grief, Faaren said.
KGW photo
David Sullivan, a suspect in the stabbing of a Vancouver high school student, enters court.
Shortly after the first 9-1-1 call about the stabbing at McDonald's, at 2814 N.E. Andresen St., emergency dispatchers received a report that a man was being pursued on foot and police dogs were quickly sent to the scene. Martinek said several witnesses from McDonald's had followed Sullivan from the restaurant.
Officers said he was soon captured and a knife believed to be the murder weapon was found nearby as well.
Police have not determined a motive in the stabbing. The McDonald's is located in an area about halfway between downtown and Orchards.
The girl's mother found out about the attack when she showed up Thursday night to drive her daughter home from work. A Russian-speaking Vancouver Police officer accompanied Svidersky's family to the hospital Thursday night.
The McDonald's restaurant was closed Thursday night after the stabbing and re-opened at 6:30 a.m. Friday. McNicholas said the staff at the fast-food chain was struggling with the loss, as were police, even though they didn't personally know the slain teen.
(KGW reporter Scott Burton also contributed to this article.)
The thing that I hurts so much is that fact that, if you look at her myspace (
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=7889704), you can see that she truly enjoyed life, was living life up to the very last day she was alive (as seen by her name and such "6 days until I;m legal") and how many people posted on her myspace saying how much they missed her and all. I truly couldn;t imagine what it would be like if any one of my closest friends, even someone I don;t know in my school had something like this happen to them. This proves that anything can happen and you should have fun with thet people you love for as long as it lasts. BTW the reason I am posting this is also becayuse reading this had changed my life drastically in ways I would not like to share with peopl I don;t know online.
R.I.P. ann i didnt know you but ill see you in heaven.
