MA - Samantha, 17, & Bianca Revelus, 5, murdered, Milton, 28 March 2009

[southcitymom]

This case has been on my mind today. It made me recall that three-quarters of persons with schizophrenia develop the disease between 16 and 25 years of age. Kirby was 23 and one of the articles stated that a neighbor said his behavior had been erratic and odd since he was released from prison 6 months ago.

I am no expert. I do not know if mental illness was a cause, but I can't help but think it might have been - with no prior history of abuse towards his family. Drugs may well have also played a part - they often go hand in hand with mental illness.

My continued prayers for all who were touched by this tragedy.

 

[Reannan]

This case is like a nightmare for everyone involved! Can you imagine being those police officers who arrived on the scene? How can you ever forget a birthday cake with 5 candles and a decapitated child in the same room?? Horrible beyond any words! And the mother of these children!! I just don't think I would want to go on living.....but she has to for the 9 year old angel that survived. I heard on the news that he was seen walking up and down the street drinking hard liquor the night before. My money is on a demonic mixture of drugs and alcohol rather than mental illness. Of course, I am beginning to think a large sector of the world is mentally ill, and are self-treating theirselves with crack cocaine and methamphetamines. From what we see here on WS's, you would have to be mentally ill to ever get involved with drugs like that.

 

[gman20001969]

This one makes me sick and pissed off.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/sha...ay_Killings.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

 

[ziggy]

He be-headed the 5 year old little girl in front of police.

I cannot imagine how this happens and my only conclusion is that people really can be just plain evil or possessed.

No way, even if he is a violent man, do expect him to savagely stab his sisters to death, much less DECAPITATE one.

We learn no lessons here. It's so sad. How are we ever to predict what danger children will be in in their own homes?

 

[fran]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SISTERS_SLAIN?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Sisters to be buried with brother who killed them

<<<<<<<<<<full article at link>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

[Gracenote]

He be-headed the 5 year old little girl in front of police.

I cannot imagine how this happens and my only conclusion is that people really can be just plain evil or possessed.

No way, even if he is a violent man, do expect him to savagely stab his sisters to death, much less DECAPITATE one.

We learn no lessons here. It's so sad. How are we ever to predict what danger children will be in in their own homes?

I agree with the evil part. Also sounds like drugs and/or untreated mental issues. What a nightmare.

 

[Hopeful One]

This is one of those stories that sits heavy in my heart. I can't stop thinking about him decapitating that poor five-year-old Bianca. Right in front of a police officer. I hope that Saraphina gets good counseling and can go on with her life at least somewhat normally. Horrible story.

 

[Lovejac]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/SISTERS_SLAIN?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

Sisters to be buried with brother who killed them

<<<<<<<<<<full article at link>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Wow! I have mixed emotions about this. On one hand, I cannot imagine the parents having to go through separate funerals. On the other hand, I am angry for the brother, who is responsible, to have any part of those precious childrens service. It is a decision that I can't comprehend having to make, as these parents. God Bless them.

 

[Tonia]

In September 2004, Kerby was arrested for punching one of his sisters in the face as they fought about money, the chief said. The Boston Herald identified the sibling as Jessica Revelus, who was not in the home during Saturday's attack.


Jessica Revelus told officers at the time that "she was not in fear of her brother," according to a police report from the incident, the Boston Herald reported. A charge of domestic assault and battery was dismissed because she refused to cooperate, Wells said.
But Kerby was in trouble a year later, in 2005, when he was charged with carrying a firearm without a license after he attempted to purchase alcohol at a Randolph, Massachusetts, liquor store. He was given a six-month sentence and was released in September 2008.

CNN reached Jessica Revelus by phone Tuesday. She seemed distraught and said she had not been able to sleep. Her brother's rampage came, she said, "out of the blue."



When asked whether he had a temper or had given any indication that he might want to hurt his sisters, she said, "I don't know. I am not good right now. I am not good."

On Monday, Jessica Revelus told the Boston Herald that "I was never afraid of him. I called the police because he thought he was so big and bad."

Jessica Revelus told the newspaper that her sister Samantha "would get into arguments" with Kerby over "little stuff" and that Kerby and her father were not speaking.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/31/sibling.stabbings/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

 

[Lovejac]

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/re...:_Friend_says_mom_has_&#8216;no_explanation_/

A longtime neighbor of the Reveluses, speaking on condition of anonymity, noticed the change too, calling Kerby &#8220;a very disturbed man&#8221; who self-medicated with alcohol.

&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if he ever got help,&#8221; the neighbor said. &#8220;Whatever came out of his mouth made no sense to me. He was in his own little world.&#8221;

 

[Lovejac]

Regina and her husband, Vonze Revelus, broke their silence on the murders yesterday with this statement: &#8220;Our family suffered an immense tragedy in which the lives of three of our children were sadly cut short. (They) lost their lives in an unthinkable manner. We only ask that everyone continue to include us in their chain of prayers.&#8221;

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2009_03_31_Funerals__wakes_will_be_held_together/

 

[Atanua]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/r...s_mourn_3_slain_siblings/srvc=home&position=7

Vonz and Regina Revelus, extended an invitation to the officers to attend their children&#8217;s funeral today.

&#8220;We understand the police officers also are suffering,&#8221; said the couple&#8217;s spokesman, Ernst Guerrier. &#8220;But the family is so grateful for their courage in intervening when they did, for they may have saved Sarafina.&#8221;

These parents are showing the most impressive compassion for others, even while trying to deal their losses. I don't know that I would show so much grace. My hats off to them.

 

[Lovejac]

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/r...s_mourn_3_slain_siblings/srvc=home&position=7

These parents are showing the most impressive compassion for others, even while trying to deal their losses. I don't know that I would show so much grace. My hats off to them.

ITA! That statement was gracious and appreciative.

 

[fran]

For mother, the power of love is stronger than grief
By Joe Fitzgerald
Wednesday, April 1, 2009

There have been columns here on mothers who lost their kids to violence, and columns here on mothers whose kids were the perpetrators of violence, but no mother appearing here has ever touched this writer’s heart the way Regina Revelus has in deciding that the son who killed her daughters should be mourned and buried with them.

“She can’t separate them,” family spokeman Ernst Guerrier explained, emphasizing she was mother to them all.

In this season of Easter with its focus on redeeming and unconditional love, can there be a better earthly example than this heartbroken mother whose love transcends her grief?

.....................snip........................

Regina Revelus, it seems, could still see the boy she bore inside the monster he became, and somehow, through a love that can’t be fathomed here, was able to reconcile the two by realizing hurt people hurt people.

Her decision, sure to be a lightning rod for second-guessers, is just that; it’s her decision, and if it makes sense to her, it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else.

<<<<<<<<<<full article at link>>>>>>>>>>>>>

http://news.bostonherald.com/news/c...er__the_power_of_love_is_stronger_than_grief/

 

[fran]

This is just such a sad case. I don't even know how I'd react if I were in this family's or friend's shoes.

Bless them all,
fran

P.S.

Comment by a friend of the family:


http://news.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1162595&format=comments&cnum=2

Samia
For everyone who has posted a comment in support of the family...thank you for being so compassionate. I grew up with Kerby, knew him and his family since he was just 6 yrs old. I have to say that despite this horrible act Kerby committed, that was NOT the Kerby myself and other friends remember, imagine the young boy his parents remember. He was a cool kid but when he went to serve time, he came out 100x worse. I sit back and think, how could someone come to this? You must get to the source of his problems (being institutionalized twice) can do this to someone. The system can change someone in the worst ways. While this is not an excuse of any sort for Kerby's actions on saturday, it is something to think strongly about.

#587789 - Apr 2, 2009 11:54 AM EDT

 

[Lovejac]

http://www.necn.com/Boston/New-England/2009/04/04/3-Revelus-siblings/1238880815.html

The sole survivor of a rampage that left three of her siblings dead, little Sarafina Revelus, 9, was recently released from the hospital and limped into the Jubilee Christian Church Saturday to say goodbye.

In an extremely emotional final farewell, where one person had to be taken away by ambulance, more than a thousand friends, family and well-wishers packed the Mattapan Church to pay their final respect to 17-year-old Samantha and 5-year-old Bianca -- sisters taken way too early, but remembered for the impact they made in such a short time.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...5/milton_family_buries_three_loving_children/

The crowd surrounded the three graves early yesterday afternoon, forming a sea of black that was at times a dozen people deep. Over the harmonies of Haitian folk songs and the drone of an excavator, came the sound of wailing.

"Why?" one woman cried out as the smallest coffin, holding the body of 5-year-old Bianca Revelus, was lowered into the earth.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jFyTnoSRpKSvbreqIkaOge_N-YBgD97BSSU00

In a funeral program, the family described the 23-year-old as a doting brother to baby Bianca, showering her with hugs and kisses and listening to her tell stories as she sat on his lap.

"When Bianca would fall and cry he was the first one by her side and protecting her from harm's way," the program said. "Bianca was his world. And for Kerby being a great big brother to Bianca was easy."

 

[Lovejac]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/05/a_scene_that_scars/

MILTON - Sixteen seconds earlier, he was sitting in his cruiser on a routine patrol.
Now he is standing outside a second-floor apartment on Belvoir Road, and he knows something awful is happening in there.

Somebody yells "come in" but the door is locked.

Inside, little Sarafina Revelus is on the phone with a 911 dispatcher. He calmly but firmly asks the dispatcher to have the girl let him in. But she can't.

When he kicks down the door, he sees why. Her big brother Kerby is right there. Kerby has Sarafina's baby sister - Bianca, just 5, - in a headlock. By now, three of his fellow cops are behind him.