BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Walkers, runners, bikers and a few dogs took part Saturday in Laura’s March, an event held to raise money for a foundation formed to remember Laura Winterbottom, a woman who was murdered in Burlington in March 2005.
The event was the first major fundraiser for the LKW Fund, a nonprofit organization created after the death of Winterbottom, 31, who was abducted, raped and murdered after leaving a downtown restaurant.
“I know the crime really impacted this community very adversely,” Laura’s mother, Joann Winterbottom, said Saturday. “We wanted to shift the focus from Laura’s horrific death to doing good works, charitable works. To transform the horror of what happened into something positive.”
Organizers say about 150 people, many of whom wore T-shirts with an image designed by Laura Winterbottom, marched after listening to speakers at Burlington’s Oakledge Park.
The march raised an estimated $150,000, which will benefit programs run by Women Helping Battered Women and the Women’s Rape Crisis Center.
At the time of her death, Laura Winterbottom was teaching art to children in an after-school program and hoped to become a full-time art teacher.
“She loved children,” Joann Winterbottom said. “She’d really get down on their level and speak to them and play with them – actually get down on the floor and be on eye level with children.”
Earlier this year Laura Winterbottom’s killer, Gerald Montgomery, pleaded guilty to a variety of charges and was sentenced to 43-years to life in prison. Montgomery randomly chose Winterbottom. Her body was found the next day.
Her parents have said they founded the organization so some good would come from her death.
On the Web:
The Laura K. Winterbottom Fund
www.lkwfund.org
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