Girl mourned in candlelight vigil

Rebecca Bluff's neighbors cried and prayed for her Thursday night, just feet from where deputies believe the 3-year-old was tortured to death.

About 75 mourners gathered outside the apartment the girl used to live in, holding bright candles. They were remembering a girl they never knew."It doesn't matter that we didn't know her," said Debbie Greer, who lives across the street. "This was a horrible way to die. She was a good girl who lived in a good area. This never should've happened."

Authorities believe the girl's mother and the couple she lived with sexually abused and tortured Rebecca in the apartment, 1287 E. Vinegate Drive (6150 South). The abuse eventually led to the girl's death in a case that even has hardened detectives bewildered.

"I've been investigating child abuse for over six years," Salt Lake County sheriff's detective Steven Jentzsch said. "I've handled a lot of child deaths, very serious physical injuries to children and sexual abuse to children. This is the most horrendous act I've ever seen in the form of child abuse."

Salt Lake County prosecutors filed charges against the three adults Thursday. Ferosa Bluff, 26, Andrew G. Fedorowicz, 45, and Suzanne M. Fedorowicz, 45, each face a count of murder, a first-degree felony, a count of child abuse and a count of sexual abuse of a child, second-degree felonies.

Bluff and the Fedorowiczes made an initial appearance in court Friday.

Attorneys for the three said they expect to battle rhetoric from the police and the media about the case being one of the "worst child abuses cases ever seen" for some time.

"That's hyperbole you can't confront," said attorney Ron Yengich, who represents Suzanne Fedorowicz.

Attorney Steve McCaughey, who represents Ferosa Bluff, said he had yet to reviews police reports in detail but had met with his client three times.

"She's upset. She didn't do it, is what she told me," McCaughey said.

The next scheduled court date for Bluff and the Fedorowiczes is Nov. 19 before Judge Frank Noel. All three remain in jail, with bail set at $500,000 apiece.

County detectives had hoped prosecutors would file the case as an aggravated murder, which carries a possible penalty of death or life in prison without parole.

"That's what we were going for, but the prosecutor said that as far as being able to show it in court and get a conviction it would be tough," Jentzsch said.