Titled:
'Helen's life was a work of art' / Several hundred gather to remember life of slain teacher-artist

By DALE LEZON, Staff Reporter

Helen Belton Orman was remembered as an inspirational teacher and a gifted artist at her memorial service Wednesday at Christ the King Lutheran Church - just blocks from where the Houston Community College instructor was gunned down last week.

"Helen's life was a work of art," Marie Dybala said.

Orman, 65, was shot to death about 12:45 p.m. Saturday as she vacuumed her car at a busy service station at the corner of Bissonnet and Kirby.

Police linked her slaying to the March 3 shooting and attempted abduction of Juli Graves at the Village Arcade shopping center in Rice Village. Graves survived.

Police say the women were shot with the same gun, but they have yet to determine a motive for the shootings or identify a suspect.

Several hundred people crowded the church's sanctuary Wednesday for Orman's memorial.

Many were Orman's colleagues at HCC Southwest or were friends who admired her paintings. They said she touched their lives with her convictions and her tenderness.

"I knew there would be a lot of people here today," said Jeannette Dixon. "She was an amazing woman."

Houston police say they have stepped up patrols around Rice Village, an enclave of trendy shops, restaurants and quiet neighborhoods in which residents and shoppers regularly stroll.

The shopping center also has increased security, especially at the parking structure where Graves was wounded.

Titled:
Artist's killer may have borrowed SUV

By PEGGY O'HARE, Staff Reporter

The gunman terrorizing the Rice Village area in recent weeks may have borrowed the Dodge Durango he used as a getaway vehicle after killing Houston professor and artist Helen Belton Orman, police announced Thursday.

Investigators say it's possible the gunman had access to the vehicle through his job, perhaps taking it from a car wash, shop or sales dealership. They suspect the SUV was borrowed because the gunman parked it in the open and didn't appear nervous about being seen. Police have found no reports of stolen vehicles fitting the Durango's description.

Investigators also announced a reward of up to $35,000 for tips leading to an arrest and charges in Orman's slaying, which happened March 20 as she vacuumed her car at a Chevron station at the corner of Bissonnet and Kirby.

A reward of up to $22,500 also is being offered for information about the shooting of Houston Press employee Juli Graves, who survived a March 3 attack in the 2400 block of University. Police later determined the same gun was used in both incidents.

"It's really important the community gets involved," said Houston homicide investigator Edward Gonzalez. "We definitely feel we're just one call away from clearing this case."

Police have described the gunman as a predator who may be mentally disturbed. "We believe this is a very sick individual just out there trying to hurt women," said HPD Robbery Sgt. Larry Doreck.

The getaway vehicle the gunman used after killing Orman is described as a camel-colored Dodge Durango, possibly a 1998 or 1999 model with no special features. The vehicle had Texas license plates, but the tag number is unknown.

Police said the vehicle may have been taken from a sales lot or from a mechanic's shop in the Rice Village area. The gunman was wearing khaki pants and black-and-white tennis shoes but was shirtless when he killed Orman, leading police to theorize he may have removed a work-related uniform or shirt.

Though nothing was stolen from Orman, Graves' purse and cellular phone were taken, police said Thursday. No calls have been made on the phone since Graves last used it.

Rewards are being offered for tips on both shootings. Anyone with information is asked to call the Houston Police Homicide Division at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Titled:
A lead in Rice Village shootings / Police looking for man in sporting goods store's security video

By MIKE GLENN, Staff Reporter

A sporting goods store surveillance video recording released Sunday may offer clues in the search for the Rice Village-area gunman, police said.

"There's a lot of coincidences here that need to be explained if this is not our suspect," said Sgt. Larry Doreck of the Houston police robbery division.

The security camera video recording was taken March 23 at an Academy Sports and Outdoors store at 2404 Southwest Freeway at Kirby. Helen Belton Orman, 65, was slain three days earlier while cleaning her car at a service station at Bissonnet and Kirby.

The man on the security tape is seen arriving at the store in a Dodge Durango, similar to the one used by Orman's assailant. Detectives said the vehicle on the videotape was gray, but it appeared to have recently been painted.

"There's damage to the front left quarter panel and underneath that is brown paint," said Sgt. J.L. Ramsey of the Houston police homicide division.

The facial features of the person captured on the security tape also are similar to the assailant described by witnesses. Detectives noted, however, that the person on the tape appears heavier and has more hair.

"This video was taken three days after the murder," Doreck said. "We know that after the murder he was still out in that area and casually going into stores, shopping as if nothing had happened."

The videotape shows the man returning a box of ammunition to a store clerk. Police said the rounds were the same type used in Orman's slaying and the March 3 shooting of Juli Graves, 30, in a Rice Village parking garage.

"It (the ammunition) is even the right brand. It's identical," Ramsey said.

Detectives declined to release specific information about the caliber of the ammunition.

"We have to have something that we can hold that only the suspect knows when we interview him," Ramsey said.

Because the man didn't have a receipt for the ammunition, police said he was given a gift card instead of cash. He then spent several more minutes browsing through the store.

"He looks into the case where the pistols are located. That seems to be his big interest," Doreck said. "He spends quite a lot of time looking at these pistols."

The man left the store and sat in his car for about 20 minutes. The tape shows him then walking back toward the store and sitting on a bench outside. He was then seen talking to a man with a small child.

"He never talks to anyone else while he's waiting," Doreck said. "We think this is someone who will know him. Finding out who he is will lead us to our suspect."

The man with the small child, a boy about 4 years old, appears to have facial hair and was wearing shorts and sandals, police said.

The suspect drove away when the man and the child went inside the sporting goods store, police said.

He was spotted the next day at another Academy sporting goods store in Katy.

"He uses that same gift card to buy the same type of ammunition - another identical box," Ramsey said.

A clerk at the store in Katy told police the man was wearing a blue work shirt, possibly with a name patch over one of the pockets.

"He may work as a mechanic or in some similar trade in the proximity where the shootings occurred," Ramsey said. "That would account for him being familiar with that area."

While the man may work in the Rice Village area, police said several leads indicate he lives in Katy or nearby.

"We're talking about someone with a very evil mind," Ramsey said. "We need to get this in front of the public so we can get this guy identified."

The assailant is described as a white or Hispanic man, about 27 years old. He is about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 180 to 195 pounds. Police said he may use the alias "Dennis Bold," the name he signed when returning the ammunition to the sporting goods store.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Houston police homicide detectives at 713-308-3600 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

By PATRICIA C. JOHNSON, Staff Reporter

Helen Belton Orman was preparing an exhibit of her work in Galveston when she was murdered on March 20, but Places Real and Imagined, featuring 25 new mixed media compositions, opens 6-10 tonight in celebration of her life.

The artist and professor of literature created collages combining watercolor and photographs. They are "documentations and reveries," she once said, in which a lotto ticket, an elephant from a Parisian carousel and a Louisiana alligator share a world filled with joy and humor, color and texture.

The exhibit being presented by Buchanan Gallery also features drawings by Orman's longtime partner, artist Charlotte Cosgrove, whose recurring image is that of a house, a house that is often in conflict but also peaceful in landscapes.

The exhibit remains on view through May 23, with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Helen Belton Orman Memorial Scholarship Fund at Houston Community College-Southwest, where the artist was chair of the department of literature and language.

Places Real and Imagined
Where: 2120 Postoffice, Galveston; 409-763-8683.
Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Sundays.

Bench becomes fitting memorial / Memorable trip to park preceded woman's killing

By ALLAN TURNER, Staff Reporter

This is the story of a park bench - and of a little girl and her grandmother and the last day they spent together.

You easily can view the bench, one of dozens Hermann Park Conservancy offers benefactors in return for sizable donations, on the shaded shore of the park's McGovern Lake. What you can't see, though, is the girl's sorrow, the heartache that may never be assuaged.

The girl is 5-year-old Catherine Orman, the cherubic blonde, blue-eyed daughter of business executive Mark Orman and his wife, Laurie; the grandmother, Helen Orman, 65, a well-regarded Houston artist and educator.

On Tuesday, March 16, Catherine, her mom and grandmother capped a four-day family visit - Mark and Laurie Orman live outside Texas - with a stroll through the park. At almost every step they were confronted with warm, sometimes funny, recollections.

Four days later Grammy Orman, as her family affectionately called her, was shot to death as she vacuumed her car at a service station at Kirby Drive and Bissonnet. The man accused in her slaying, Beau John Maloney, 34, is a man with a criminal record in at least five states. He will next appear in court on Aug. 11, at which time a date for his trial should be set.

"Catherine and Helen and I spent the whole day in Hermann Park," Laurie Orman recalled. "We met at the Warwick Hotel, and took what turned into an incredible nostalgic tour, a trip down memory lane. If you scripted a last day with Grandmother, I don't think you could do a better job."

As the family scaled the berm at Miller Outdoor Theater, Grammy Orman recalled the times Catherine's father and uncle made boyish tumbles down the hill. When they considered the gnarled limbs of a stately old tree, the stories of childhood climbs - and more tumbles - poured forth. At the miniature train station, the stories of long-ago rail excursions through the park raptly held Catherine's attention.

Often in their giggle-filled odyssey, Catherine and Grammy Orman paused to gather feathers and leaves to use in art projects. They tarried, too, to feed the ducks on bagels pocketed from the hotel's breakfast buffet.

"Helen and Catherine shared, way beyond normal, a love for animals," the child's mother said.

At last, the family reached the lake's western edge, not far from the park's Playground for All Children and Fannin Street. There, they noticed a pair of benches a friend had donated as a tribute to family members.

As Catherine fed the greedy ducks, Helen Orman recalled for her daughter-in- law the visits she had made to the site years ago with her father. The benches intrigued her; their rough utilitarian charm seduced her into reverie.

"She loved the idea - I think she was thinking of dedicating one to her dad," Laurie Orman said. "We spent some time there. It was the final moment in what ended in being a sweet exchange of family memories."

Days later, the horror descended.

Months later, as Father's Day approached, Laurie Orman conceived the perfect gift for her emotionally blasted spouse: a memorial bench for his mother.

The bench stands near the McGovern Lake fishing pier.

A small plaque attached to its wooden boards bears this inscription:
 

The bench is not about death, Laurie Orman insisted. It's a touchstone of family memories, and the memories grow stronger.

"It was a very special thing that happened on that last day - the day Catherine spent with her grandmother collecting those leaves and flowers," she said.

Now, when Catherine works on art projects, she tells her parents Grammy Orman gives her good ideas.

"Catherine is very connected with Grammy as an artist," her mother said. "Is Grammy sending them (ideas) directly from heaven? It's hard to know."
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BENCH SPONSORING:
Individuals and businesses may sponsor benches at Hermann Park by donating $5,000 to the Hermann Park Conservancy, formerly Friends of Hermann Park. Revenue goes to park upkeep and improvements. The 2-by-8-inch plaques, provided by the organization, may bear memorials, tributes to the living, or acknowledgments of commercial sponsorship. For more information, call 713-524-5876.

THE YEAR IN REVIEW / DEATHS / From the famous to the infamous

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Orman, Helen Belton, 65. March 20. Houston Community College instructor and artist shot to death as she vacuumed her car at a service station.
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