April 20, 1988 ‘News 985-2131

Classified 986-6222

Distribution 986-1497 $6 pages

“morning,

/THE

25¢

a ae

NORTH “VANCOUVER:

FIRE: RIPPED through a
“two-storey North Van-. ;
:couver. home - Monday
causing an
estimated $75,000. worth »

of damage.. Ps

s North, Vancouver

Distr ct firefig

responded to a’ call to’

1388" ‘West ‘Keith: Road
just. after, 10! a.m. -A

neighbor, who. had tried

TRAIL for. mis
-back to. Edmonton.
Police made contact with Acosta

and her alleged teen pimp and
boyfriend :Tony

hters.;

Wednesday.

“Acosta told. police that she was’

“well and. wanted to stay with her’

boyfriend i in Edmonton. -
Kathleen Bell- Younger, Acosta’s

: mother, had been receiving a series
“of disturbing calls over the past,
‘week from a woman claiming to be

Acosta and claiming that she was
being held, beaten and drugged by
. Tony. somewhere in. Vancouver.
Police traced a nuniber of the calls
to a Main Street telephone booth
in: Vancouver.

Bell- -Younger had made a plea
earlier Tuesday
tributions to a reward fund to help

; bring her daughter home. ~

Said Bell-Younger: “I can’t real-

for public con-..

soon as I close my eyes,

to ‘contain the blaze with as
. garden © hose,” called: in”
the alarm. — - .
The home was .unoc-.
. cupied at the time of. the ©
biaze. The ‘fire destroyed

the homre’s ‘kitchen and.

caused extensive smoke...
“damage. The: family, dog. :

_ Sippy, found ” cowering |
under a bed, was Fescued |
ty firefighters.

sing, hooker: Francesca Acosta has lead

By MICHAEL BECKER
News Reporter

ly rest until 1 know she is safe. As
I have to
open them because of the
dreams,"’ said an emotionally and
physically drained Bell-Younger.
Said Acosta’s * school friend
Laurie: Schildt: ‘‘We want her to
contact us $0 we can see that she is
okay. ! won't believe it until she
tells. me personally that she is

okay. We're not accepting the fact :

“that she wants to be a prostitute.’
Bell-Younger had been taking to
the streets of Vancouver’s red light
district every night since Friday in
zan. effort to draw attention to her
plight. and draw out information

call

fire « _was': caused - by a!

“ malfunctioning | electric ;

hay kitchen.:

-Above,:

structure.’ Tete Tiefightes

David) | Whaley: hands over -

Tippy. “to distraught.
homeowner. dean.
Johnson.

on
Recent reports had Acosta working
on Vancouver streets.

During the day Bell-Younger
fields endless telephone: calls, in-
cluding the apparently. phoney
threats from Tony the pimp. and
frantic pleas from her daughter.

Bell-Younger'’s mother (Acosta’s
grandmother) said she received a
Monday night from Tony
claiming he had knifed Acosta.
Earlier calls “claimed she was
beaten with a baseball bat:and had

her hands slashed with a knife.

Bell-Younger faced possible
charges for orchestrating the. ab-
duction. of her daughter froma.
Vancouver street. in’ March and
strapping her to a bed for almost
two days in a tid to convince her
to turn'away from her life as a
prostitute, 2.4

her daughter's. whereabouts.’