darbyjoan
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Brooklyn religious store owners' mysterious murders
leave hole in the lives of those the couple counseled
[FONT=&][FONT=&]Hazel Brown, 59, was pronounced dead just inside the front door of their rented Winthrop St. home.
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[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]Stephenson Bonaparte, 65, found outside near the front steps, was rushed to the hospital but couldn't be saved.
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[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]The murders of Brown and Bonaparte left a gaping hole in the lives of those who regularly visited the store with busts of Jesus in the front glass and cleansing oils with names like "boss fix" and "bow down to me" along the back wall seeking her spiritual counsel.
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[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]More than three months later, the double homicide remains unsolved.[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]
The couple, contrary to some initial reports, didn't practice voodoo.
They were Spiritual Baptists, a faith popular in the Caribbean that mixes the principles of Christianity with ancient African religions. Spiritual Baptists believe in Jesus and in spirits.
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[/FONT][FONT=&]The faith features some little-known rituals that would never take place in a traditional western church. [/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]But unlike practitioners of voodoo, Spiritual Baptists are not known to traffic in hexes or curses.
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[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]"Mother Hazel didn't do that kind of work as far as I know," said one longtime friend who asked to remain anonymous.
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[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]"There are some people who will do that, and some people who just won't cross that line. If you knew Mother, she was a god-fearing person. She had belief in Jesus. Jesus was her everything."
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&]Spiritual shops like hers, often referred to as botanicas, cater to loyal clienteles in parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx.[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]A man who runs Feraille Botanica on Flatbush Ave.[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&] put it this way:
[FONT=&][FONT=&]"If somebody comes in here and says, 'I have a problem.' And you say, 'I can help you. Give me two, three hundred dollars.' And then nothing happens. The guy could walk in with a gun and shoot you, or he could come find you."
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]"I don't know what happened to those people," Jack added. "But these are the things you must be careful about."
[/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]
leave hole in the lives of those the couple counseled
[FONT=&][FONT=&]Hazel Brown, 59, was pronounced dead just inside the front door of their rented Winthrop St. home.
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]Stephenson Bonaparte, 65, found outside near the front steps, was rushed to the hospital but couldn't be saved.
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]The murders of Brown and Bonaparte left a gaping hole in the lives of those who regularly visited the store with busts of Jesus in the front glass and cleansing oils with names like "boss fix" and "bow down to me" along the back wall seeking her spiritual counsel.
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]More than three months later, the double homicide remains unsolved.[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]
The couple, contrary to some initial reports, didn't practice voodoo.
They were Spiritual Baptists, a faith popular in the Caribbean that mixes the principles of Christianity with ancient African religions. Spiritual Baptists believe in Jesus and in spirits.
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&]The faith features some little-known rituals that would never take place in a traditional western church. [/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]But unlike practitioners of voodoo, Spiritual Baptists are not known to traffic in hexes or curses.
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]"Mother Hazel didn't do that kind of work as far as I know," said one longtime friend who asked to remain anonymous.
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]"There are some people who will do that, and some people who just won't cross that line. If you knew Mother, she was a god-fearing person. She had belief in Jesus. Jesus was her everything."
[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&]Spiritual shops like hers, often referred to as botanicas, cater to loyal clienteles in parts of Brooklyn and the Bronx.[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]A man who runs Feraille Botanica on Flatbush Ave.[/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&] put it this way:
[FONT=&][FONT=&]"If somebody comes in here and says, 'I have a problem.' And you say, 'I can help you. Give me two, three hundred dollars.' And then nothing happens. The guy could walk in with a gun and shoot you, or he could come find you."
[/FONT]
[/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]"I don't know what happened to those people," Jack added. "But these are the things you must be careful about."
[/FONT]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&][FONT=&]
[/FONT][/FONT]
