A sad story

[Peruna_Ate_My_Rolex]

It's sad that this had to pan out the way it did. Two young lives lost. Didn't need to happen.

Killer's anger recalled

Couple's argument started in apartment, ended on overpass


11:43 PM CDT on Friday, June 11, 2004


By SCOTT FARWELL, TIARA M. ELLIS and ROY APPLETON / The Dallas Morning News



He was a fiery tennis player at SMU with a history of violence. She was his on-again-off-again girlfriend, petite and beautiful, who also had run-ins with the law.

Paul Stephens and Lorena Osorio's relationship began when she was 15 years old, working at Boston Market in Dallas. He was 24, a college graduate beginning his career in the computer industry.

"They seemed very happy with each other ... very relaxed, comfortable, very grounded," said Scott Jackson of Dallas, who shared dinner, coffee and relaxed conversation with the couple recently. "I'm shocked."

After six years together, police and witnesses say, Mr. Stephens and Ms. Osorio spent their final moments together Thursday arguing in a white Mercedes parked on a the Bush Turnpike overpass. Then, in mind-numbing horror, motorists watched as he pulled her struggling from the car and pushed her to her death 85 feet below in roaring rush-hour traffic.

Her body landed on the hood of Janette Durham's Ford Crown Victoria as she drove home from work. "She didn't know what it was and pulled over," said Lisa Durham, the Mesquite resident's daughter, who said her mother was "pretty shaken up" and on Friday afternoon didn't want to talk about the experience.

Witnesses said Mr. Stephens jumped to his death moments later. It was a spasm of violence that friends and family members struggled to make sense of Friday. Some described the couple as devoted, doting partners, who planned to marry. Others said Mr. Stephens' charming, witty exterior belied an underlying rage.

Mr. Stephens served probation for a Dallas County assault in 1997, and the next year a protective order was taken out against him in Dallas County by a former girlfriend. No additional details were available Friday in either of those cases.


Accusations
Ms. Osorio, a graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School, was accused twice of theft, in April and November 2001. One charge was dismissed. On the other, she pleaded guilty, paid a $300 fine and had the charge removed after she served probation.


Police said the couple argued Thursday afternoon inside their Dallas apartment. They took the fight outside, where Mr. Stephens broke the driver's side window to get in and forced Ms. Osorio to move into the passenger seat, according to police, citing accounts from witnesses.

Richardson police Sgt. Kevin Perlich said authorities are still trying to piece together what happened after the Mercedes left the AMLI Knox-Henderson Apartments on a route that ended about 5 p.m., with the couple's gruesome and very public death some 15 miles away.

"The only people who know that can't tell us," Sgt. Perlich said.

Freddy Hanser, a tennis partner of Mr. Stephens' while both attended Southern Methodist University in the mid-1990s, said his college buddy was a complex character. He could be the charming and disarming life of the party, but flash to rage welled inside.

Mr. Hanser remembers John McEnroe-style displays of anger during tennis matches. He said Mr. Stephens would throw rackets and protest questionable line calls until he was red in the face.

Those fits of anger, he said, were dismissible because they occurred in the heat of competition. But it wasn't until Mr. Hanser invited Mr. Stephens to his home country of Austria one summer when his friend's hot head became offensive, he said. After dinner one night, Mr. Stephens mistakenly believed he was the butt of a joke in German.

"He went on a rampage," said Mr. Hanser of San Diego. "He was yelling, 'I can't believe you guys are making fun of me. You better stop making fun of me.' "

Mr. Hanser said it took several minutes to calm his friend and explain to him that he only understood a fragment of the yarn and had taken it out of context. "I saw something in his eyes that night I didn't like," he said.

'Played to win'
Carl Neufeld coached both men in tennis at SMU. He said Mr. Stephens was a "fiery competitor," but not as demonstrative as Mr. Hanser recalled. In fact, he said, Mr. Hanser was the most animated player of the doubles team.

"Paul really played to win. There was a real strong competitive side to him, but as far as demonstrating it as emotion on the court, I didn't see it," said Mr. Neufeld.

However, anger nearly derailed Mr. Stephens' early tennis career at a junior college in Florida, according to friends and published reports. The Florida Tennis Association suspended Mr. Stephens and his father, Wayne, for unsportsmanlike conduct during a match.

At SMU, Mr. Stephens was disciplined over an argument with his girlfriend, said Mr. Hanser and a college friend, Lauren Haber.

"Everyone knew about that incident, and it was public," said Ms. Haber, who now works in Los Angeles. "Paul had to go before an administrative hearing or something to see whether they were going to let him stay in school."

But Mr. Jackson, who was there the night of the SMU incident, said the rap against his friend was unfair.

"As with any story, there are multiple sides," he said. "The truth is somewhere in the middle." Mr. Jackson said Mr. Stephens was an excellent provider and was very loyal to Ms. Osorio. He purchased a BMW for her to drive to high school, and later he bought the Mercedes for her to drive.

"He did a lot to help that girl out," said Mr. Jackson. "Her family didn't seem to have much in the way of resources ... from what I saw, Paul put a roof over her head and bought her clothes and groceries."

Brenda Osorio, Lorena's older sister, said she and her family were grieving and did not want to talk. Ron and Anna Corcoran said they have known the Osorio family since Lorena's mother, Encarnacion Suarez, moved to Texas from Honduras and served as a caretaker for Ms. Corcoran's father in the early 1990s.

Their ties strengthened when Mr. Corcoran's brother married Brenda, they said. Ms. Suarez brought her children from Honduras to live with her and give them a better life, Ms. Corcoran said.

Ms. Osorio was "a sweet, gentle and beautiful girl who always smiled," she said. "I was so upset at the idea of her struggling" with Mr. Stephens on Thursday.

Age difference
"Lorena was 15 and this guy was 24. That was the first clue that we should have been watching out for her," Mr. Corcoran said.

A family member who did not want to be identified said Mr. Stephens seduced Ms. Osorio when she was young and impressionable.

"She was young and pretty. He was a handsome man with nice cars and money," the family member said. "She was sweet, and he was rotten. They didn't mix."

Staff writers Randy Eli Grothe and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

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Mr. Hanser said it took several minutes to calm his friend and explain to him that he only understood a fragment of the yarn and had taken it out of context. "I saw something in his eyes that night I didn't like," he said.

'Played to win'
Carl Neufeld coached both men in tennis at SMU. He said Mr. Stephens was a "fiery competitor," but not as demonstrative as Mr. Hanser recalled. In fact, he said, Mr. Hanser was the most animated player of the doubles team.

"Paul really played to win. There was a real strong competitive side to him, but as far as demonstrating it as emotion on the court, I didn't see it," said Mr. Neufeld.

However, anger nearly derailed Mr. Stephens' early tennis career at a junior college in Florida, according to friends and published reports. The Florida Tennis Association suspended Mr. Stephens and his father, Wayne, for unsportsmanlike conduct during a match.

At SMU, Mr. Stephens was disciplined over an argument with his girlfriend, said Mr. Hanser and a college friend, Lauren Haber.

"Everyone knew about that incident, and it was public," said Ms. Haber, who now works in Los Angeles. "Paul had to go before an administrative hearing or something to see whether they were going to let him stay in school."

But Mr. Jackson, who was there the night of the SMU incident, said the rap against his friend was unfair.

"As with any story, there are multiple sides," he said. "The truth is somewhere in the middle." Mr. Jackson said Mr. Stephens was an excellent provider and was very loyal to Ms. Osorio. He purchased a BMW for her to drive to high school, and later he bought the Mercedes for her to drive.

"He did a lot to help that girl out," said Mr. Jackson. "Her family didn't seem to have much in the way of resources ... from what I saw, Paul put a roof over her head and bought her clothes and groceries."

Brenda Osorio, Lorena's older sister, said she and her family were grieving and did not want to talk. Ron and Anna Corcoran said they have known the Osorio family since Lorena's mother, Encarnacion Suarez, moved to Texas from Honduras and served as a caretaker for Ms. Corcoran's father in the early 1990s.

Their ties strengthened when Mr. Corcoran's brother married Brenda, they said. Ms. Suarez brought her children from Honduras to live with her and give them a better life, Ms. Corcoran said.

Ms. Osorio was "a sweet, gentle and beautiful girl who always smiled," she said. "I was so upset at the idea of her struggling" with Mr. Stephens on Thursday.

Age difference
"Lorena was 15 and this guy was 24. That was the first clue that we should have been watching out for her," Mr. Corcoran said.

A family member who did not want to be identified said Mr. Stephens seduced Ms. Osorio when she was young and impressionable.

"She was young and pretty. He was a handsome man with nice cars and money," the family member said. "She was sweet, and he was rotten. They didn't mix."

Staff writers Randy Eli Grothe and Holly Yan contributed to this report.