Friends, family recall slain girl

Deepa Bharath

She always had a radiant smile on her face, but friends say they

always saw the pain behind Ceceline Godsoe’s pleasant countenance.

The 16-year-old Costa Mesa girl was found dead on a dusty trail in

Fairview Park during the wee hours of Sept. 21. Police say Costa Mesa

resident Victor Garcia, 17, bludgeoned her to death and eluded arrest

after he heard about the investigation.

While her suspected killer is still at large, about 100 people --

family members, friends, neighbors and acquaintances -- gathered Tuesday

evening at a memorial service held at the Orange County Unitarian

Universalist Church in Costa Mesa.

Ceceline’s father, William Godsoe, who home-schooled his daughter,

remembered her as “a free spirit.”

“She loved me unconditionally,” he said, smiling through his tears.

“She loved the sunlight on the grass and trees.

“She spent a lot of time on trees,” he added with a laugh. “She loved

nature.”

Friend Tamara Bartlett, who first met Ceceline in seventh grade at

Ensign Intermediate School, said the girl was shy when she first came to

the school three years ago.

“She was sitting next to me,” Tamara recalled. “And she had these

pretty flowers painted on her fingernails. I told her how pretty they

were, and she brought some for me the next day. That’s how we became

friends.”

But Tamara said Ceceline somehow did not seem happy.

“She seemed like she was on a quest for something else in life,” she

said.

The family displayed photos of Ceceline at the service Tuesday.

Visitors saw her as a baby sitting in a stroller, frolicking at the beach

-- her favorite spot any time of the day -- building a sandcastle,

flashing a toothless smile, brown hair blowing in the wind.

Many of Ceceline’s friends who spoke to the gathering said she was

different from the crowd -- a special person who would go out of her way

to help people.

“She helped me out when I didn’t have a place to stay,” Todd Hendrick

said. “She let me stay in her house, even if it was against her dad’s

wishes.”

Ceceline was a “beautiful person with a good heart,” said her former

boyfriend, Shawn Kensak.

“There are not many girls like Ceceline,” he said. “We remained

friends even after we stopped seeing each other. But she never forgot my

birthday. So kind and thoughtful.”

Tamara Runnells still has a birthday card Ceceline gave her two years

ago with a dollar bill in it.

“On it she wrote, ‘I look at you as my role model,”’ she said, tears

streaming down her face. “She was very disturbed and had her own way of

hiding her pain. But she always looked happy. It’s hard to describe.”

Josh Root recalled doing this, that and “just dumb things” with her.

“She was fun-loving, a 16-year-old child,” he said. “She had a good

attitude about everything.”

Ceceline’s mother, Martha Godsoe, who lives in Florida with her

husband, B.B. Hollins, said Ceceline expressed her desire to live with

her father three years ago.

“She was happy to be here,” she said. “Away from mom and all the

rules.”

Martha Godsoe said her daughter struggled with authority.

“Take this as an [example],” Godsoe told addressing the young people

in the gathering. “You don’t want this to happen to you.”

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .