‘Anything would set him off,’ killer brother’s sister says
Slain sis was concerned about his temper
By Laurel J. Sweet and Jessica Van Sack | Monday, March 30, 2009 | bostonherald.com | Local Coverage
Photo by Matt Stone
A gifted Milton High senior’s prophetic concerns about her convict brother’s increasingly violent behavior may have ignited his psychotic breakdown Saturday that cost her and her 5-year-old sister their lives, police said.
“Samantha would stay away from him,” said Jessica Revelus, 21, of her slain sister and killer brother Kerby Revelus, 23. “No one was scared of him, he just has a temper. Anything would set him off.”
Jessica, who once called police after an argument with Kerby got out of control, moved out of the Milton family’s home to raise her baby, Ariana Castillo, and be safe.
“Jail made him worse,” Jessica said. Kerby had been behind bars twice on gun charges since 2006. He had recently been released from jail.
“The first time he came out it was, ‘What happened to you?’ ” she said, describing the family’s shock over his change in attitude. “The second time it was, ‘Who are you?’ ”
With four rounds, Milton police shot and killed Kerby on Saturday after walking into a scene of unspeakable horror at 7 Belvoir Road in Milton. Amid the bloodbath was leftover cake from slain 5-year-old Bianca Revelus’ day-care birthday celebration Friday.
“The scene was beyond anything a human being would be able to comprehend,” said Milton Police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr.
Funeral arrangements were incomplete yesterday for Bianca and Samantha “Princesse,” 17. A third sister who miraculously survived being attacked by Kerby remained hospitalized, nursing stab wounds to her stomach and limbs. Saraphina Revelus, 9, is expected to pull through, family said.
“He was close to Bianca,” Jessica said of the sibling Kerby decapitated while his parents were at work. Eighty-year-old grandmother Philomene Dorvil was tending to laundry in the basement when the massacre unfolded.
“We do not have information right now as to motive. We may never know,” said David Traub, spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating.
Wells said the meltdown appears to have started Friday when, for reasons still unknown, Kerby punched an adult male neighbor.
“It appears that Princesse might have protested to her parents that she was concerned about the violence,” Wells said. “As to what happened inside the house to start this, it appears Princesse was the initial target.”
Police received a 911 call from inside the house about 5 p.m. Saturday. The first officer was on scene in 20 seconds, Wells said. Six minutes later, Kerby, Samantha and Bianca all were dead.
“Princesse got on the phone first and relayed to the dispatchers she needed help,” Wells said. “She said she was dying and she was bleeding badly.”
Investigators believe Samantha either instructed Saraphina to dial 911 or summoned all her strength to make the call herself. Taking the phone at one point, Saraphina told dispatchers Kerby was “hitting her and her sister,” Wells said.
The first officer to arrive, an 11-year veteran of the force, heard screaming from inside the locked second-floor apartment.
“As he breaks down the door, he enters into what is very difficult for me as chief to process,” Wells said. “He sees (Kerby) decapitate the 5-year-old right in front of his eyes.”
Kerby, he said, then set his sights on Saraphina, slashing away at her as she ran to a bedroom, four cops in pursuit.
“They’re yelling at him to get on the floor, get on the ground,” Wells said. “He didn’t comply, and clearly the threat to human life was imminent.”
Jessica said her parents, Regine Revelus, 42, an employee of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Vronze Revelus, 45, a bus driver for Local Motion, were at work when the murders occurred.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen my father cry,” Jessica said. “He was so close to (Bianca).”
Although not diagnosed as mentally ill, “over time,” she said, the family’s suspicions about Kerby were growing. Vronze and his son were no longer on speaking terms.
Kerby, a 2004 graduate of Milton High and self-described agnostic, maintained a profane and nearly unintelligible MySpace [website] page “so the haters can see how im (sic) doin’,” he wrote on his profile. His final login was March 8. He described his mood as “focused.”
Jessica said Kerby worked at Toys “R” Us over the holidays but had been jobless since.
By contrast, she said Samantha was a “quiet,” artistic soul making plans for college. She said Samantha and Saraphina came to live with them from Haiti four years ago after Samantha’s father - Regine’s half-brother - died and Saraphina’s father, his nephew, could no longer care for her.
“They were always happy, never sad,” Jessica said of her sisters, through tears. “Never sad. I don’t think my mother will ever be able to deal with it.”
Article URL: bostonherald.com
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