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Kelly McCorkle on The Early Show

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puddin:
Amazing Racer Honors Slain Friend  :sad:

CBS) As Kelly McCorkle was finishing third in "Amazing Race 7" this past season, she struggled with the knowledge that her best friend had been brutally stabbed to death on Halloween night.

McCorkle and Leslie Mazzara met when they were 14, in South Carolina, and hit it off instantly.

Mazzara eventually moved to California's posh Napa Valley, where tragedy struck.

On Halloween night, someone broke into the home Mazzara, 26, shared with two roommates and brutally stabbed Mazzara and Adriane Insogna to death. The third roommate managed to escape, and called 911.

The slayings remain unsolved, reports 48 Hours correspondent Bill Lagatutta.

He says Napa's been called one of the prettiest places on earth. It's where billionaires buy mansions and movie moguls such as "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola buy vineyards. And every day, tourists arrive to soak up the local flavor.

It's hard, says Lagatutta, to imagine a more unlikely setting for murder. But what happened there sounds more like the plot of a grisly slasher film than the true tragedy it is.

"We've seen all those horror movies," says Mazzara's mother, Kathy Mazzara. "And this is worse than a horror movie. This is real."
Leslie Mazzara, a beauty pageant winner and a marketing executive for the Coppola winery, and roommate Insogna, a civil engineer raised in Napa Valley, handed out candy to neighborhood children on Halloween night.

A few hours later, tired, the girls turned in. That, says Lagatutta, is when the man came into their home while they were sleeping, and stabbed them both.

"I have nightmares about what her last moment must have been like (for Mazzara)," says McCorkle, "and, you know, how scary it must have been."

McCorkle speculates a cult might have been involved, since the stabbings took place on Halloween.

Police discount that theory, says Lagatutta, but still haven't nailed down a motive.

"We never did find a murder weapon at the crime scene," says homicide detective Dan Longeren, who came out of retirement to try to solve the crime.

He says evidence shows the killer got into the house through an unlocked window or door.

Then, continues Longeren, "He goes upstairs and attacks one of the females, and then is possibly confronted by the other female upstairs. Both the females were dead with multiple stab wounds."

Police discovered the killer's DNA at the scene, adds Lagatutta, but have yet to make a match, leaving the community and two families wondering if they can ever find the kind of peace so many others have sought and found in Napa.

Says Insogna's mother, Arlene Allen: "I don't even know what happened to my child. I mean, I know she was stabbed to death. But that's not very much, when you think about it. …I hope that someone will see this broadcast and realize that they know something significant, and come forward and give the police a new lead."
McCorkle is working with Mazzara's family to keep her memory alive, and to help police find her killer.

"Police are still working hard on it," she told The Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen Tuesday. "And they have a lot of leads. They're just not going anywhere."

She says police think Mazzara was targeted for death by someone who knew her.

The last time McCorkle spoke to Mazzara was in mid-October, by phone, as McCorkle was preparing to compete in "Amazing Race 7."

Nothing seemed amiss, McCorkle says, and Mazzara loved living in Napa.

This weekend, McCorkle is helping stage an event dubbed "The Amazing Raise" in Mazzara's hometown of Anderson, S.C. It's a two-day affair patterned after "Amazing Race."

Organizers hope to raise $500,000 to build a new cottage and name it after Mazzara at The Calvary Home for Children, which fights child abuse and which Mazzara passionately believed in.

Numerous "Amazing Race" teams will take part.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/09/earlyshow/main767277.shtml

puddin:
Tragedy turns into a chance to help
By JAKE GROVE
Anderson Independent-Mail
August 10, 2005

When Kelly McCorkle last spoke to Leslie Mazzara, she was about to head out as part of a team competing on CBS’ "The Amazing Race," and her close friend was living it up as a publicist in Napa, Calif. Both were on top of the world.

Two weeks later, the world was turned upside down. Ms. Mazzara and her roommate were stabbed and killed Nov. 1, 2004, in the home they shared in the quiet wine country town, and the killer still remains at large.

For months, family and friends in Anderson and beyond mourned the loss of the former Miss Williamston, but eventually they decided to carry on Ms. Mazzara’s work to help abused and neglected children.

"The Raising Race" this weekend is part of that work.

"We always wanted to do something that Leslie would be proud of," Ms. McCorkle said. "Something to benefit the children of Calvary Home for Children and be in memory of all the work she did."

Using her reality TV celebrity as a finalist on "The Amazing Race," Ms. McCorkle has coordinated an "Amazing Race"-style event in Anderson County this weekend.

Forty-three teams from across the country are to compete in five legs of the countywide scavenger hunt, where physical endurance and mental toughness will be tested for two days.

One team will win the grand prize of $500 and a trip to the Bahamas while the others will go home with a small taste of what "The Amazing Race" is all about.

"Everywhere I go, people want to experience what we experienced on the show," Ms. McCorkle said. "That’s where we got this idea."

The race starts at the Civic Center of Anderson at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Contestants cannot use maps or electronic devices to guide them from point to point, except for their own wits and the help of local residents.

At certain points, the contestants are asked to complete tasks to get the next clue and move closer to the grand prize.
Aaron Kincaid and co-worker Larry Elrod, both of Anderson, make up one of the teams. With only about 25 percent of contestants from Anderson County, Mr. Kincaid said that was an advantage for his team.

"I’m from the Townville/Clemson area, and he is from Honea Path, so between the two of us we have most of the county covered," Mr. Kincaid said. "I don’t know what to expect, but we have been getting in better shape for anything that comes up."

Ms. McCorkle has spiced up the event by inviting several teams from the seventh installment of "The Amazing Race" and one from the sixth.

Rob and Amber, Ray and Deanna, and Jonathan and Victoria as well as others are to help out with the "Raising Race" and attend the finale dinner on Saturday evening.

"The celebrities coming did not hesitate and are paying their own way to be here," she said. "They wanted to be a part of this."

"The Raising Race" has garnered national attention as well. Ms. McCorkle recently appeared on "The Early Show," and the Leslie Mazzara case is to be featured on newsmagazine "48 Hours" in coming months. A "48 Hours" crew is to be at the fund-raiser filming for the segment.

All the publicity has been daunting, but it was worth it to see the money raised, she said.

"We were shooting for $25,000, and we have doubled that already," Ms. McCorkle said.

Proceeds from "The Raising Race" are to go to the Calvary Home for Children’s Leslie Mazzara Fund to build a new cottage in the her name.

Sam Henderson, director of support services at Calvary, said the hoopla has put the Calvary Home in the limelight.

"An event like this makes them aware of what we do here and that we always need help, whether it’s working to build a new cottage or taking care of daily expenditures," he said. "They get to know more about us, and that is always a good thing."

"The Raising Race" begins at 11:30 a.m. Friday. Teams are to be eliminated throughout Friday and Saturday until the first team crosses the finish line Saturday at the Civic Center.

Events are planned outside the Civic Center beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday, and a paid admission after-race party is planned for 5:30 p.m. and is to include "The Amazing Race" celebrities signing autographs.

Jake Grove can be reached at (864) 260-1251 or by e-mail at grovejb@IndependentMail.com.

http://www.independentmail.com/and/news/article/0,1886,AND_8203_3993208,00.html

careybear:
wow, How very sad!!

careybear:
What a great way to remember her friend, and to carry on her work

virtualpilgrim:
Yes it is a wonderful way to remember a friend and I commend Kelly and participants, but I for one am very tired of this tragedy being promoted by the media as The Beauty Queen and the roommate as if Adriane is just an after-thought - she was a wonderful, beautiful  girl who overcame a terrible head injury received in an automobile accident at age 16 to go on to attain her dream of becoming an engineer - which in my book is just as deserving of attention as winning a tiara - Lilly

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