Garvin

A half-inch strip of white rubber found in the otherwise tidy apartment of Dawn Marie Garvin matches a similarly sized hole on a tennis shoe belonging to Garvin's accused killer, Steven H. Oken, an FBI expert has testified.Special Agent William Heilman, an expert in torn-edge comparison, told a Baltimore County Circuit Court jury that, "The piece of rubber had at one time been part of the sole of the shoe."The tiny strip of rubber is considered a key piece of evidence in the prosecution's case against Oken, 29, the White Marsh man accused of raping and killing Garvin on Nov. 2, 1987.

As police searched for murder suspect Steven H. Oken, they found in his White Marsh home a grisly shopping list that included gags, chloroform, surgical gloves and "dark pantyhose to cover hair and face."Prosecutors at Oken's murder trial in Baltimore County Circuit Court offered yesterday that list and testimony from people who lived near Dawn Marie Garvin, 20, as evidence that Oken had plotted several sex-related slayings in November 1987, including the killing of Mrs. Garvin, a White Marsh newlywed.

A neighbor has testified that Steven H. Oken followed her to a convenience store near White Marsh on the night he is accused of slaying 20-year-old Dawn Marie Garvin.Anita Wilder testified yesterday in Baltimore County Circuit Court that at about 9:30 p.m. Nov. 2, 1987, Oken, who was driving a pickup truck, followed her for several blocks and tried to get her to pull over by flashing his headlights and waving a badge as if he were a policeman.Instead, Wilder said, she drove to the store and when Oken asked for her registration, she demanded he produce a police badge.

Prosecutor Scott Shellenberger stood over a seated Steven H. Oken today in Baltimore County Circuit Court and pointed his finger in Oken's face."Dawn Garvin was murdered with this man's gun, which police found in this man's house," Shellenberger almost shouted, giving a jury his opening statement in the trial of Oken, who is accused of raping and killing Dawn Romano Garvin, 20, on Nov. 2, 1987. The state is seeking the death penalty.Wearing a dark blue suit and glasses that hid his pale expression, Oken, 29, did not look up from the yellow legal pad on which he had been making occasional notes.

Betty Romano gave up her job as a sales manager for Tupperware afterher daughter was killed three years ago.After the slaying of 20-year-old Dawn Garvin, the Abingdon resident recalls, she feared for her own safety, refusing to go out at night alone."