Neighbors who heard victim's scream say they didn't ignore it

Burlington County Times ^ | 14-May-2003 | Geoff Mulvihill

[GirlShortstop]

EVESHAM, N.J. - The bedroom clock said 2:33 a.m. when Dave Garren's wife woke him up Saturday saying she heard a scream. Other neighbors also remember a woman's voice saying "Oh God, help me!"

The next morning, the Garrens and others in this quiet Philadelphia suburb learned those were likely the screams of their neighbor, Krista DiFrancisco. The 24-year-old mother and wife was stabbed outside their tidy row of townhouses, but she was not discovered until four hours later.

DiFrancisco died two days after she was found. Since then, neighbors have questioned whether they could have or should have done more.

"I wish I'd heard something," said Tarra Dorney, who lives across the street from where DiFrancisco was found. But the 29-year-old hairdresser said her air conditioning was on that night and it dampened the sound so much that her little dog didn't even yelp.

"So many people heard it," Dorney said. "All it would have taken was one person to pick up the phone."

Dave Garren said a group of teenagers who live nearby have been known to wake up the neighborhood with their noise on weekend nights in the spring and summer. When a nearby intersection has been the site of late-night car crashes, he's rushed to help, he said.

In the case of the scream, he peeked out the bedroom window.

Garren said he didn't see anyone running away or any strange cars in the parking lot that surrounds the two- and three-bedroom homes rowhomes.

"It's been a real stark three days," Garren said. "I think I've lost five pounds. I haven't eaten in two days."

DiFrancisco was found stabbed multiple times and clinging for life by a neighbor at 6:30 a.m. who was going fishing. She was partially clothed. Investigators say she was stabbed at least six times, and authorities were trying to determine if she had been raped.

Authorities said DiFrancisco had been out with friends at a bar in nearby Mount Laurel until around closing time, or 2 a.m., on Sunday. They said she parked her Honda in front of the home she moved into just a few months ago with her husband and baby, and locked the car door.

Somewhere in the 20 feet or so between the car and the front door, she was attacked. Authorities say it doesn't appear the crime was random.

Burlington County First Assistant Prosecutor Raymond E. Milavsky said a medical examiner found no conclusive evidence of a sexual assault. It's likely to be a few more weeks before further test results are available, Milavsky said.

Milvasky said a 911 call from a neighbor may have helped DiFrancisco survive rather than lying in a yard two doors down from where her husband, Bill and their 9-month-old daughter, Kendalyn, slept.

And it may have helped catch a killer.

"We would hope and expect that members of the public would call for police assistance any time they perceive anyone in the community is in distress," Milavsky said.

Garren said it's been unfair for the Burlington County Prosecutor's office and others to be so critical of neighbors who did more than roll over and return to sleep. To help, Garren said he was looking into reviving his subdivision's dormant town watch.

Another neighbor hastily put up a Web site, www.kristadifrancisco.com, to solicit anonymous tips on the case.

Others said they won't be walking alone in the neighborhood and are making efforts to know their neighbors so they more easily spot unusual activity.

This is the second killing in the Kings Grant neighborhood in a year. Last fall, 11-year-old Gregory Katsnelson's body was found fatally stabbed in nearby woods. A Medford man, Ronald Pituch, was charged with the murder, which police say was random.

Before that, the growing community of Evesham Township, which has 42,000 residents, hadn't seen a murder in a decade.

[GirlShortstop]

Other neighbors also remember a woman's voice saying "Oh God, help me!"      <snip>
"So many people heard it," Dorney said. "All it would have taken was one person to pick up the phone."   <snip>

In the case of the scream, he peeked out the bedroom window.  Garren said he didn't see anyone running away or any strange cars...   "It's been a real stark three days," Garren said. "I think I've lost five pounds. I haven't eaten in two days."

website link

Mr. Garren may very well be a decent man, but his comment typifies that which has me bothered by the tragedy of Mrs. DiFrancisco's murder.  The first report of the murder indicated the same "hands off" approach of neighbors to the attack's commotion in the usually quiet neighborhood (where the murder occurred). To this weenie's comment, I'd be inclined to retort:   have you even considered the grief that has impacted the victim's family, and the mother-less future her nine month old now faces? The "me, me... all about me" approach has reared its head, and the results we see are horrible. Really sad I guess is the simplest, rant-free reaction to what has occurred.

[netmilsmom]

God Bless this woman, her husband and child. Bless the people who are suffering because they heard and did nothing. Surround them Lord with your healing arms.


But what was she doing at a bar at 2:00 am. Stay home and be a mom.

[Pete]

Authorities said DiFrancisco had been out with friends at a bar in nearby Mount Laurel until around closing time, or 2 a.m., on Sunday. They said she parked her Honda in front of the home she moved into just a few months ago with her husband and baby, and locked the car door.

Somewhere in the 20 feet or so between the car and the front door, she was attacked. Authorities say it doesn't appear the crime was random.

This may be a somewhat contrarian view but it appears that this woman's choices contributed to her circumstances. I see this in two ways. First, she put herself in danger by returning home alone after 2:00am. Second, I think many would think (but might not say) that this woman should have been asleep with her husband and baby at 2:00am. Lifestyle choices do have consequences.

Now, does that mean she deserved to be attacked? Of course not. However, it does mean that she might still be alive if she had acted in a responsible manner.

Some might say that she should be free to live the way she wishes without fear of being attacked. I agree with that 100% and in a perfect world that might be the case. However, we don't live in a perfect world and part of being a responsible adult is recognizing the realities of life and living accordingly.

[angcat]

In my single days I would come home just like Krista did, I lived on a dead end street in Yonkers with no parking I had to leave my car a block away and I remember I would run to my house. It could have been me also. It's just not right. She could have called her husband and asked him to wait by the door for her. Very sad story.

[Teacher317]

"So many people heard it," Dorney said. "All it would have taken was one person to pick up the phone."

and the cops could've made their report a few hours earlier. Yes, what a tragedy.

Now, if the bozo had said, "So many people heard it," Dorney said. "All it would have taken was one person to pick up their gun and go investigate.", I would agree that she might have had a chance to live.

[harpseal]

At last a reasonable response

[joesnuffy]

One More Reason Why "The people" need to keep and bear arms...and how evil it truely is to infringe upon that God given right...
When even the 75 yr old neighbor is armed he can take on thugs...and feel confident that he stands a chance in helping his neighbor...
What a terrible thing...to hide in your house while a neighbor girl is being stabbed and crying for help...

[RogueIsland]

"So many people heard it," Dorney said. "All it would have taken was one person to pick up the phone."

Well, in a social environment like NJ that has, for decades, worked to convince its residents that being disarmed sheep entirely reliant on the protection of the State is the highest form of civic duty, this sort of thing will happen.

Give people the tools and ethos and mindset to protect themselves with confidence,and they will protect others too. Teach them from infancy to be cowering wards of the state, and they will protect neither themselves nor others.

[RogueIsland]

oops. Thought it was NJ. It was Philly. But pretty much the same mindset.

[CatoRenasci]

Shades of Kitty Genovese. The more things change, the more they remain the same.

[OldFriend]

It is NJ........

[stainlessbanner]

good post. what happened to our neighborhoods? we are more likely to communicate with folks around the country than the folks next door.

[Williams]

It seems lots of stories start with a premise that has no factual support. Am I to understand that "peeking out the window" substantiates the claim that the neighbors did much more than just "roll over and go back to sleep?" Or am I supposed to be impressed because he feels bad and didn't eat for 2 days?

It's not a defense of the neighbors, but there is a basic human flaw that most people don't accept the worst is happening and take action unless and until it is right in their faces. People are afraid to call the police or run outside with a baseball bat, mostly out of a fear of being wrong and "looking silly." That is one reason they are called sheeple.

[gridlock]

Should I call the police every time some teenager screams in the middle of the night? Lots of kids just walk around screaming just to wake people up. They think it's funny.

It sounds like this fellow looked around to see if there was anything obviously wrong, and not seeing anything, he probably figured that it was just some kids or something. Not having heard the screams, I don't know whether or not this was an appropriate conclusion.

Of course it was tragic in this case. But there was no way of knowing that at the time.

I almost always call the Police when I hear screams in the night. Most times I figure it is just kids, but having the cops do a sweep might discourage them, too. In the suburban town where I live, the cops are always looking for something to do, anyway.

But if you want to know where you fall on the food-chain, try to call a big city police department at 2:00 AM with a story like this. They might tell you to go out and check it yourself, but there is no way they are going to send out a cruiser without more to go on. When I lived in the city, I once had about 20 people involved in a brawl outside my window, and called the police. They could not have cared less until I called back after somebody had been shot.

[DCPatriot]

RE: #12

It takes a village.....er, never mind. < /sarcasm >

[maxwell]

Should I call the police every time some teenager screams in the middle of the night? Lots of kids just walk around screaming just to wake people up. They think it's funny.

Yep... If I called the cops every time some high school kids shrieked in the parking lot outside my window at two in the a.m., the local PD would put a call-block on my phone number.

Now gunshots, I might call in for. Whilst making a personal (armed) assessment of the situation. Bottom line is, I've seen enough of my neighbors to figure not to rely on 'em for anything... Just so they keep their hands off my sh!t, that's all I'm worried about...

[WomanofStandard]

I live in Queens, NYC and as sad as it is I don't think the police would come if I called to say I heard someone screaming but could see nothing and could not give them a location of where the screaming person was.

A few weeks back I was sitting here at my computer at 2AM and my son came running down the stairs saying that someone was being beat up and mugged across the street. I told him to call the police & to ask for an ambulance since when I looked out the window, the victim was lying motionless on the pavement, which he did. I went out went across the street with a blanket to help the victim who was left bleeding on the ground. All I could do was put the throw I'd grabbed from my sofa over him to keep him warm and pray until the police and ambulance arrived. Turned out he was with a friend who was also mugged but not hurt. He was running to the corner eatery to call the police when I lookd out. They guy was not seriously hurt in the end. I don't know if they ever caught the creeps or not but if they did I suspect they will be calling my son to testify sometime in the future.(My son heard them demanding money as they mugged them.)

I later was also questioning myself as to why I didn't look out the window until my son came running down the stairs. I heard a little commotion outside but never even thought to look because living in the city, around the corner from a bar it has become way of life to hear loud talking, sometimes combative bar partons returning to their cars on my block and 99% of the time they aren't doing anything illegal (with the exception of driving drunk once they leave my block) so I don't jump up every time I hear a little commotion. It has to get quite loud for me to look out these day. But, Thank God my son did look out this time.

[waterstraat]

One More Reason Why "The people" need to keep and bear arms...and how evil it truely is to infringe upon that God given right...

Bump for ccw, and for women should be carrying a handgun.

[fml]

Kinda all over the road there, huh?

[fml]

I live in the area and drive through the neighborhood often. The townhomes and condos are so closely packed with not enough garage space that the streets are filled with cars, the yards are tiny patches of grass, the main (only)road serves as a through street between two sides of town and this is an upscale area. People almost have no choice but to get used to ignoring the noises that occure at night.