thedrifter
10-11-04, 04:36 PM
Colomb had joined Marines, planned to see the world
By MARLENE NAANES
Advocate staff writer
EDITOR'S NOTE: Although Derrick Todd Lee is on trial only for the death of Charlotte Murray Pace, state District Judge Richard Anderson has ruled that prosecutors can introduce evidence from other killings authorities have said are linked to Lee. On Sunday, jurors heard evidence about the death of Trineisha Dene Colomb.
Trineisha Dene Colomb learned four languages, read scores of travel books and joined the military to fulfill her dream of seeing the world.
But when the 23-year-old Marine recruit died in November 2002, she had not yet stepped out of the country. She had barely seen the United States.
"She went a few places but not a whole lot," said her father, Sterling Colomb Sr.
When she died, Trineisha Colomb was about three months from reporting to a Marine Corps training camp.
She'd already served two years in the Army, went to college for two years, and then joined the Marines because she was eager to travel.
Before then, she had just read about travel. Colomb, known to her family as Dene, was always in her room reading, watching television or listening to the radio.
"I used to tell her, 'Dene I'll pay you to go to a movie,'" Sterling Colomb Sr. said. "She kept to herself a lot of times. She wasn't a very outgoing person."
But she was friendly and had many interests. In high school, she played basketball one year, volleyball the next and joined the cheerleading squad the last year.
"She'd start on one thing, do it and move on to the next," her father said.
Dene Colomb was close to her father, mother and older brother, Sterling Colomb Jr., but Dené was "affected" by the fact she was adopted.
After Sterling Jr. was born, the senior Sterling and his wife, Verna, wanted -- but could not conceive -- a daughter. So they adopted Dene.
"It doesn't matter how much you love someone," Sterling Colomb Sr. said. "I guess you think she always wondered."
Dene Colomb registered in March 1998 with a Web site that attempts to reunite adopted children with their biological parents.
She knew the identity of her birth mother. But Dene Colomb wanted to meet her half-brothers and sister and wanted to find her father.
"I would like to know ... my father's race, since I look mixed and have received comments that I am half white," she wrote.
She never received a reply.
During the last years of her life, Dene began going out more often -- to clubs and parties. She also auditioned for the reality TV show "Survivor" by trying to wrestle a pig.
But she also grew distant from her family after her mother, Verna Colomb, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She read about the disease to cope.
After her mother's death, Dene often visited the grave. She was visiting it when she was abducted in November 2002.
Her car was found near the grave and a hunter found her body along a path in a wooded area in Scott. She died from blows to her head and she was raped.
On her grave is a stone that says, "I lay next to my mother joining her as an angel in heaven."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Marlene Naanes has left The Advocate since she wrote this story.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/101104/new_colomb001.shtml
Ellie
Rest In Peace
By MARLENE NAANES
Advocate staff writer
EDITOR'S NOTE: Although Derrick Todd Lee is on trial only for the death of Charlotte Murray Pace, state District Judge Richard Anderson has ruled that prosecutors can introduce evidence from other killings authorities have said are linked to Lee. On Sunday, jurors heard evidence about the death of Trineisha Dene Colomb.
Trineisha Dene Colomb learned four languages, read scores of travel books and joined the military to fulfill her dream of seeing the world.
But when the 23-year-old Marine recruit died in November 2002, she had not yet stepped out of the country. She had barely seen the United States.
"She went a few places but not a whole lot," said her father, Sterling Colomb Sr.
When she died, Trineisha Colomb was about three months from reporting to a Marine Corps training camp.
She'd already served two years in the Army, went to college for two years, and then joined the Marines because she was eager to travel.
Before then, she had just read about travel. Colomb, known to her family as Dene, was always in her room reading, watching television or listening to the radio.
"I used to tell her, 'Dene I'll pay you to go to a movie,'" Sterling Colomb Sr. said. "She kept to herself a lot of times. She wasn't a very outgoing person."
But she was friendly and had many interests. In high school, she played basketball one year, volleyball the next and joined the cheerleading squad the last year.
"She'd start on one thing, do it and move on to the next," her father said.
Dene Colomb was close to her father, mother and older brother, Sterling Colomb Jr., but Dené was "affected" by the fact she was adopted.
After Sterling Jr. was born, the senior Sterling and his wife, Verna, wanted -- but could not conceive -- a daughter. So they adopted Dene.
"It doesn't matter how much you love someone," Sterling Colomb Sr. said. "I guess you think she always wondered."
Dene Colomb registered in March 1998 with a Web site that attempts to reunite adopted children with their biological parents.
She knew the identity of her birth mother. But Dene Colomb wanted to meet her half-brothers and sister and wanted to find her father.
"I would like to know ... my father's race, since I look mixed and have received comments that I am half white," she wrote.
She never received a reply.
During the last years of her life, Dene began going out more often -- to clubs and parties. She also auditioned for the reality TV show "Survivor" by trying to wrestle a pig.
But she also grew distant from her family after her mother, Verna Colomb, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She read about the disease to cope.
After her mother's death, Dene often visited the grave. She was visiting it when she was abducted in November 2002.
Her car was found near the grave and a hunter found her body along a path in a wooded area in Scott. She died from blows to her head and she was raped.
On her grave is a stone that says, "I lay next to my mother joining her as an angel in heaven."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Marlene Naanes has left The Advocate since she wrote this story.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/101104/new_colomb001.shtml
Ellie
Rest In Peace