Posted on 01/03/2006 11:22:30 AM PST by JZelle
RICHMOND (AP) -- Police yesterday continued searching for clues in the slaying of a prominent local family, whose bodies were discovered in their home. Firefighters responding Sunday afternoon to a report of a blaze at the house found the bodies of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their two young daughters, Stella and Ruby. Police would not comment on the condition of the bodies, but the Richmond Times-Dispatch, citing police sources, reported that the family members were discovered bound in the basement with their throats cut. All four were pronounced dead at the scene, said police spokeswoman Cynthia Price. The bodies were sent to the medical examiner's office for autopsies. Police are investigating the case as a homicide and arson, Miss Price said. Investigators said the Harveys had invited friends to the house for a New Year's Day chili party. A family friend who arrived with his daughter walked inside and was engulfed immediately in smoke. "I yelled out, and no one answered, so I figured they all must be on a walk or something," Johnny Hott said. He then shouted for a neighbor to call 911. According to the Times-Dispatch, a family friend said Mrs. Harvey, 39, was the half-sister of Steven Culp, who played Rex Van De Kamp on "Desperate Housewives."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
After you've been here a while you might see some patterns develop.
Any time there is a horrible bloody insane crime, we tend to suspect møøslimbs.
We're right a disturbingly high percentage of the time - but not always...
Welcome to FR, BTW.
Why didn't the mom warn off the kids? Not fast enough thinking on her feet I guess.
The bit about the mother appearing ashen and nervous... seems to put it all in an even more bizarre category.
Except maybe not... It was New Years day... She could have just been out late overdoing things at the husbands band gig. She might have been hungover and sick and the villians weren't even there yet. That was 10 am... the fire started in the afternoon, right?
Thanks for the background information. If crimes turn out to be by someone else do people say, "oops! We shouldn't have made such a quick assumption!" or do they just ignore it? :) I agree this is a weird story; I just try to get real information first, as a rule.
Ok, perhaps I've become too biased.... Yes, my first thought was some sort of Muslim involvment, but I guess taht's a big leap.
All things being equal, killing at such close proximity tells us that this was personal; as opposed to "just business". One might argue that a knife is quiet, but in a basement, a .22 is just a quiet.
In my experience, they just ignore it ;~D
"I'll have to remember that when writing out checks later today."
Someone suggested to me, filling in the year on the date line for a couple dozen checks or so to get used to writing it. Works for me.
This is a terrible crime. I hope they get whoever. Does VA have a death penalty? Some of my husbands relatives live in Richmond but I haven't heard anything from my m-i-l about it. They must be pretty scared about this. I know I'd worry if there was a grisly, senseless crime like this in my community. Prayers for that family's relatives. I hope they didn't suffer long.
I'm in Virginia; we most certainly do have a death penalty.
Thank for the link to the Times/Dispatch. That seems to be the best source for stories on this case.
Welcome to "Checkuary"!
And conceal and carry as well.
Arrived last night from trip up north and found an e-mail from twin brother who lives just 8 blocks from where this occurred.
He's now contemplating buying a gun to start the new year.
Mebee not. There's a lot of stuff that isn't known yet. Oym sticking with the møøselimb theory for now, Oy am...
YMMV...
>>All had been murdered -- bound with tape and their throats cut.
The little girls were ages 9 and 4.
So sad.
"It seems like there are a lot of murder reports from Richmond. It is just media hype, or is the city's rate much higher than the national average?"
Richmond has had one of the highest murder rates in the nation several times, and it had the highest at least one year.
"The bit about the mother appearing ashen and nervous... seems to put it all in an even more bizarre category."
I know, it seems that way for me too. The first thought that came to my mind when I read this was that perhaps the murderer was already there holding the three of them in the basement. When the older daughter came home, the mom was sent upstairs to get rid of the friends.
This is such a terrible story - I hope they find the killer soon.
It's easy to read it that way because it was included as part of the story, but given the time and the day and the fact that the house didn't burn till much later, it might be false to assume that.
>>>We're right a disturbingly high percentage of the time
Yep.
*sigh* Yeah. Who else targets children?
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