Md. Victims' Rights Group Co-Founder Dies

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) -- A man who with his wife helped found a well-known Maryland victims' rights group after the 1982 murder of his daughter has died.

Vincent Roper died Thursday at the age of 79. His death was announced by the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center. The center grew out of the Stephanie Roper Committee and Foundation which Roper and his wife helped found following his daughter's death.

Stephanie Roper, a Frostburg State University senior, was kidnapped by two men after her car became disabled on a Maryland roadway. The two men, Jack Ronald Jones and Jerry Beatty, were convicted of raping and torturing the 22-year-old before killing her.

A funeral for Vincent Roper will be held Friday at St. Joseph's Center in Upper Marlboro.

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