Sexual Assault Is Disclosed In Slaying Of Amanda Stavik

The motive in the slaying late last year of Amanda Stavik, the Central Washington University freshman killed near her home in Acme, Whatcom County, appears to be sexual assault, the Whatcom County Sheriff's office said today.

Undersheriff Doug Gill said that Stavik, 18, was raped - a fact withheld when her body was discovered in the Nooksack River Nov. 27.

Gill said the information was not released at the time out of sensitivity for the victim's family, and in order to retain confidential information to use when questioning suspects or witnesses, Gill said.

The information is being released now in ``hopes of stirring up some public interest out there,'' Gill said.

Detectives have no suspect, Gill said. A list of more than 200 possible suspects was developed from the people the victim knew or associated with, Gill said. The most likely of those have been questioned, and now detectives will begin investigating people who earlier did not seem like plausible suspects.

``We're going to have to back up and look at those a little further down the list,'' he said.

Stavik disappeared Nov. 24 while she was jogging on a rural road, and her body was found the next day in the river. Cause of death was drowning, Gill said.