SLAIN VICTIM'S FAMILY COPES WITH GRIEF

RICHLAND, Wash. -- Ernestina "Tina" Hinojosa came from a family of 12 children, but somehow she always managed to be the center of attention.

"She was so funny," recalled her sister Rosie Robillard. "She could mimic just about anyone, but her best was the witch from the 'Wizard of Oz.' She would just make us all laugh."

The body of Hinojosa, 43, was discovered last Tuesday after Richard Meyer of Scott City, Mo., led police to where it had been dumped in a cornfield outside Ottawa, Ill.

Police have said Meyer stated that he stabbed a woman and then dismembered her body.

"My dad was concerned because he wanted to see her face," said Pete Hinojosa, describing how he told his 84-year-old father about Tina's death. "I didn't go into details. I just said the body had decomposed."

The brothers, sisters and other members of the Hinojosa family are struggling with Tina's death. Sleeplessness and nightmares are shared by all 11 siblings, from oldest at 54 to the youngest, 37.

Tina's three oldest children, 24, 19, and 18, know what happened to their mother. The fourth, 11-year-old Desiree, hasn't been told as much, Robillard said.

Desiree is trying to keep her mind filled with thoughts about how her mother made her happy.

"She would tickle me and play with me," Desiree said. "We would fall down on the floor together laughing, and she'd kiss me. My mom was special."

It was for Desiree's sake that Tina went to Illinois in mid-June, Robillard said. They had been sharing a bedroom in an apartment in Kennewick, Wash., and Tina wanted to earn money for a house so her daughter could have a room to herself.

Tina traveled to Illinois with a boyfriend, who promised that he would find her a job as a flagger at a road construction site, Robillard said. He didn't keep his promise.

The boyfriend treated Tina badly, Pete said.

"She has always been too trusting," Robillard said. "She didn't find fault in anybody."

Tina was more friendly than most people, Pete said. He had lived in his home for years without getting to know his neighbors until Tina came to visit.

"She made friends with my neighbors more quickly than me," he said. "She'd make friends on the spot."

Tina would call home to talk with her daughters every day that she was in Illinois, Robillard said. She had raised her two boys and two girls alone for the past 12 years, and had never traveled far from them.

The last message received by the family was on July 11. Tina spoke to her sister's answering machine, saying she was coming home. She would be getting a ride back with a friend of the family.

"Most of us were at a wedding in Texas then, so we didn't know," Robillard said.

When July 13 came and no one had heard from Tina, the family became concerned, Robillard said.

"We thought maybe she had gotten on a bus," Robillard said. "It wasn't like her not to call."

The first to learn of Tina's death from police was Marcella Ortega, the oldest of Tina's children. Ortega had lived in the same apartment complex with her mother.

Ortega has not been able to deal with the details of a funeral and burial, Pete said, so he is handling them.

One of Tina's eight sisters came from Texas to Washington when she heard the news. But she wasn't able to stay long, Robillard said. She kept hyperventilating and becoming sick.

"It was too much to endure," Robillard said.

Pete, who is 48, said he only cries once in a while now. The first two days were the worst, he said.

"You try not to think about it, but you still think about what he did and how he cut up her body," Pete said.

The Hinojosa family can do little now but number its loses.

If Meyer did kill Tina, Robillard said, he damaged more than one body.

"He robbed children from a relationship with their mother and grandmother," said Robillard, who is looking after Desiree for now. "He gave no chance for last good-byes. That's not fair."

Tina's remains were cremated Friday. On July 28, the family will gather for a funeral service, Pete said. Tina will be buried next to her mother, who died in 1999.

"In the Hispanic culture, we like to have an open casket at funerals," Pete said. "He even took that away from us."

Somehow, Pete said he hopes Meyer finds out that Tina is being buried on the same day he will appear in court for arraignment.

When Meyer's trial begins, Pete promises that he'll be there.

"I will be at the trial, and there will be justice," he said.