05/23/09 11:32 - 67ºF - ID#48734
Valerie A. Soos
Just recently these pictures were put up with the name Valerie A. Soos 9/30/53 to 11/3/96.
So I searched and searched to find out what happened and eventually paid $6 for these archived Buffalo News articles.
News Library
HOME FILLED WITH TROPHIES IS MONUMENT TO SLAIN MOTHER'S DEVOTION TO HER CHILDREN
Published on November 6, 1996
Author: LOU MICHEL - News Staff Reporter
� The Buffalo News Inc.
Valerie Soos helped her two daughters dance their way to the top in studio competitions.
The Soos family home on Riverside Avenue is filled with trophies that now stand as monuments to the 43-year-old mother's devotion to her children, Angela, 8, and Tamara, 15, family and friends said Tuesday. Few details have been made public on how the Riverside woman met a violent end this past weekend. Homicide investigators Tuesday continued searching for suspects.
What is known is that Mrs. Soos left her home for the last time around midnight Saturday to purchase food items from an area supermarket for Sunday breakfast, acquaintances and relatives said in interviews.
When her husband, Andy Soos, awoke later that morning and discovered his wife was not home, he called her sister, Vanessa J. Bichler, at about 8:30 a.m., seeking assistance, the sister said.
Mrs. Bichler, of Grand Island, picked up their brother, James Riexinger, from his home in Riverside, and headed to their brother-in-law's home and together they filed a missing person's report with Hertel Station police.
As word spread that the well-liked woman had disappeared, a search party was formed and area neighborhoods were scoured. At about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Mrs. Soos' station wagon was located behind a Niagara Street bar.
"The car was found by the dance teacher from the dance studio where Valerie's daughter Angela took dance lessons. Valerie was close friends with the teacher and would help her out answering phones at night at the studio," Mrs. Bichler said.
The dance teacher, who had called Mrs. Bichler at Mrs. Soos' home to alert her she had found the car, also contacted police to say the vehicle had been located, the sister said.
"When my brother Jim and I went to where the car was, we were told no one should go near the car until police arrived.
"I didn't think Valerie was in the car. I just thought someone stole her car," Mrs. Bichler said.
That assumption would soon change.
Police inspected the station wagon and found Mrs. Soos' naked body in it. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that her ring finger had been severed, according to police sources.
But, Capt. Joseph Riga, chief of the Homicide Bureau, refused to discuss any details of the case Tuesday, for fear it might hamper the arrest of those responsible.
"My sister called herself a big welcome mat. She was a good person and there was nothing she wouldn't do for anyone," said Mrs. Bichler, who with Mrs. Soos worked together cleaning homes.
The lack of information on the slaying, including Mrs. Soos' cause of death, weighs heavily on family members, according to relatives and friends.
"No one wants to go on and not know what happened. That's what's killing us," Mrs. Bichler said.
A funeral is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today in James E. Grace Funer
RING FINGER CUT OFF BODY OF SLAIN WOMAN
Published on November 5, 1996
� The Buffalo News Inc.
The ring finger was cut off the body of a woman found dead behind a Niagara Street bar, police sources said Monday.
That mutilation apparently occurred after the death of Valerie Soos, 43, of Riverside Avenue, sources said, citing the lack of blood flow from the wound. Mrs. Soos' body was found Sunday afternoon in her car behind Campbell's Pub at 1591 Niagara St. An autopsy was performed Monday by the Erie County medical examiner's office. Homicide Bureau officials declined to comment on the results.
Andrew Soos had reported his wife missing approximately 14 hours before her body was found. He had given police a detailed description of her clothing and the car and noted that she may have been carrying several hundred dollars.
Police sources said the body was entirely nude when it was discovered at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The victim's husband has been questioned by police, as is customary, and the couple's home was searched. The couple has two daughters, ages 8 and 15, according to a neighbor.
AUTOPSY PLANNED ON WOMAN FOUND IN CAR
Published on November 4, 1996
� The Buffalo News Inc.
Homicide detectives say an autopsy conducted today should determine the cause of death of a Riverside woman whose body was found Sunday in her car behind a Niagara Street bar.
The body of Valerie Soos, 43, of 29 Riverside Ave. was discovered at about 2:30 p.m. outside Campbell's Pub at 1591 Niagara St., on the corner of Forest Avenue. Patrons on Sunday said she wasn't a regular at the bar, and her neighbors remembered her as a devoted housewife who often was seen working in the yard.
"It's such a terrible thing," said a friend, Jan Nimo, who lives at 23 Riverside. "I can't get over it -- seeing a person one day and the next day they're gone. It's devastating."
Ms. Nimo said Mrs. Soos and her husband, Andrew, have two daughters, ages 8 and 15.
Detectives spent several hours at the Soos home and emerged with a garbage bag of items, which they took to Police
Headquarters. They also searched a van parked outside the house.
Today, investigators returned to the scene in search of more evidence, police officials said.
This is where her body was found and where I was taking the pictures. Campbell's Pub whose parking lot is where the body was found inside her own car has since closed.
This is the map of where she lives in comparison to where her body was found.
I'm pretty sure the murder is unsolved. The Buffalo News archive had a small article about unsolved murders a year later and this case was included.
How sad for this family. I hope that the case will be solved for their sake. The daughters should be like 21 and 28 now.
Permalink: Valerie_A_Soos.html
Words: 1111
05/13/09 01:49 - 68ºF - ID#48660
Coco goes green
I would like to do my kitchen scraps but I think I'm just going to stick with his litter for now. I don't want to attract bugs or rodents as people live close together.
Permalink: Coco_goes_green.html
Words: 107
05/11/09 11:38 - 51ºF - ID#48654
Still workin on the bod
Permalink: Still_workin_on_the_bod.html
Words: 32
05/10/09 09:51 - 46ºF - ID#48643
Buffalo Spring
Red-winged blackbird at the foot of Ferry. (e:mike) and I went the other day for a walk on the pier.
Heron
This is the tree in front of my house. It sucks the flowers don't stay on for long because they really make the tree.
Forrest Lawn Cemetery.
(e:terry) driving us around.
It was fun to capture (e:matthew) taking some of his beautiful photographs as seen on his journal here.
Nasty old goose.
This is where he is taking my favorite picture from his photo shoot.
Permalink: Buffalo_Spring.html
Words: 171
05/08/09 06:16 - 67ºF - ID#48629
The problem with Florida
This just recently happened a few miles north of my mother in Spring Hill Florida.
Permalink: The_problem_with_Florida.html
Words: 71
05/02/09 09:50 - 52ºF - ID#48576
Bike trip to Lackawana
Does anyone know what this building is? It is near the Water Authority.
Permalink: Bike_trip_to_Lackawana.html
Words: 406
04/30/09 01:11 - 68ºF - ID#48543
Use protection e:hodown
Permalink: Use_protection_e_hodown.html
Words: 2
04/25/09 11:16 - 62ºF - ID#48508
Bea Arthur
When I was younger I wasn't allowed to watch the Golden Girls. I did anyways. I remember watching them once in the reflection of something so that my parents wouldn't see me watching the TV.
photo by Alan Light
Permalink: Bea_Arthur.html
Words: 91
04/23/09 02:03 - 44ºF - ID#48483
My speakers are possessed.
What is wrong with them are they possessed?
Permalink: My_speakers_are_possessed_.html
Words: 57
04/20/09 11:55 - 48ºF - ID#48462
Hard to get by
So I tried to write this before I downloaded Lazarus like (e:tinypliny) suggested. I naviagated away from the page and I lost everything I wrote. Now that should never happen with the special little add on for Firefox.
Back to the point. Buffalo was recently listed by Forbes as being number five of top cities within the US where it is hardest to get by. My first feeling was of pride that I am able to make it in the fifth hardest place to get by. My next thought was about number 4, Tampa, who not too long ago experienced tremendous growth and prosperity and has now completely bottomed out. Finally, I thought, WOW! we have tremendous stability and resilience here.
Buffalo is number 6 on top downsized US cities according to Forbes. This is clearly no surprise- as we all know how much of Buffalo is boarded up. They say positively about Buffalo:
Buffalo, for example, saw a 0.8% increase in housing value over the last year. Sure, the median home price is just $106,200, but home values have decreased by 30% in some parts of the country over that same period...
"When I moved to Buffalo, I carried the same misconceptions that most do. What I found was jaw dropping" she says of the city's architecture and cultural offerings. "Efforts to market the region are so important."....
We certainly do have a lot to market. Buffalo is a great city and I think it will remain to be long into the future.
Permalink: Hard_to_get_by.html
Words: 280
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But it's a different story being out in the dark anywhere in Buffalo (or in Delhi for that matter). I am not sure that I can survive neighbourhood thugs much less calculated serial killers. I think that it's always safer to learn from the past of any area and keep that in mind for the future. I am glad that you don't feel this incident could be a signature of the neighbourhood because that is what I really want to know when I read about stories like these.
I think my point is that Valerie Soos's murder is something we all need to remember - not because we have any idea how to empathize with her family but because of the fact that she was our neighbour at some point and contributed to the history of our neighbourhoods and reminded us of the gruesome possibilities on dark days in our neighbourhoods. Statistically nonsignificant perhaps, but a stark, true, sad and painful exception all the same.
I can accept the possibility that the ring finger was severed to get jewelry. I'm not an expert on serial killers or neighborhood thugs so I'll defer judgement to you with the cavaet that I've lived and/or worked in bad neighborhoods for most of my adult life and my gut feeling is that this is not a crime typical of a neighborhood thug.
But I really don't think this is very serial-killer-ish. Rather disturbingly, I have actually assisted in autopsies where the victims were raped and the mutilation was an afterthought because the rapist couldn't get any substantial amount of money from the victim and noticed the hard-to-loosen gold jewellery. :( The suspect could have been any drunk impoverished person with a deranged moral compass - which makes it even more scary.
I meant to comment on the doll-angel ornament. I can't believe that was the state it was originally in. Was the dress intentionally torn and the face smeared black? That is exceedingly disrespectful, creepy and disturbing. *Shudder* :/
(e:tinypliny) - As someone who lives about two blocks from Campbell's Pub, I don't feel unsafe on my street after dark. On the other hand, I think that one can't generalize an entire neighborhood from our bit of street. One needs to look the neighborhood on a block by block basis. In terms of property crime, if memory serves, the Elmwood Strip and University Heights areas have higher rates than the Central/Upper West Side.
I don't think that the murder of Valarie Soos is a typical bad neighborhood killing since it involves mutilation and nudity. It is more likely the work of a serial killer (possibly travelling through Buffalo) than the work of a street thug looking for money to score some crack or meth. Statistically, this sort of crime could also be an acquaintance murder; but I assume, perhaps wrongly, that her family and friends were investigated and no evidence of wrong-doing was found by the police.