Man decapitates 5-year-old sister in front of officer

[Niels Bohr 72]

(CNN) -- By the time the police officer kicked the door in, it was too late. Kerby Revelus was holding his 5-year-old sister, Bianca, and while the officer watched, he dragged a kitchen knife across her throat with such fury that he decapitated her.

"It's hard to imagine that kind of horror," said Milton, Massachusetts, Police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr.

Mere seconds passed before other officers arrived and rushed into the home in the tony Boston suburb of 25,000.

Police had received a 911 call from another Revelus sibling, 17-year-old Samantha. Suffering from several deep cuts in her upper body, she was losing strength.

"It was clear that she knew she was mortally wounded," Wells said. Watch police chief discuss decapitation »

Samantha managed to explain that her 23-year-old brother had attacked his sisters with a knife, police said. When she was no longer able to keep talking, the injured teen handed her 9-year-old sister, Sarafina Revelus, the phone.

All the while, the kids' grandmother was doing laundry in the basement, apparently unaware of the savagery upstairs, police said. Mother Regina Revelus was at work, and father Vronze Revelus was not at home.

As officers surrounded the home and rushed into every room, Kerby ran into a bedroom where Samantha was on the floor, dead. Sarafina was on the floor near her sister's body, according to Wells.

Kerby Revelus then began attacking Sarafina with the knife, Wells said, prompting police open fire and kill him.

On Tuesday, the two slain siblings and their attacker were buried together. Sarafina Revelus returned home Tuesday after undergoing surgery Monday morning for wounds.

It was not the first time police have visited the home answering a domestic violence call, Wells said.

In September 2004, Kerby Revelus 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.

Kerby was then in his last year at Milton High School.

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.

Police are unclear about what set the brother off Saturday, and Wells said he's being careful not to speculate.

Vronze and Regina Revelus said through a family spokesman that they had "no explanation" for their son's savagery, according to the Boston Herald.

"How much can you put on the shoulders of one family?" Wells asked.

Wells praised the first officer on the scene Saturday.

"I don't have words to articulate how this officer maintained his ability to do his job, " he said. "To go in and witness that first thing, just as he opens the door and stay on his radio through the whole thing ..."

He added that the horror of the day rippled through the force. "You can bet that our officers went home after this, and they hugged their wives and their children that much tighter. I hope that for this family and for my officers, that there can be a way to get through.

"We are going to try to make them whole as soon as possible, even though the events of this past weekend will stay with them forever."

[Amby 490]

OMG! What a horrible story. The grandma downstairs not even knowing it was happening :o

Do you have the link?

Edited April 1, 2009 by Amby

[Nagishkaw 510]

ZOMGsdgjkwoeitdkfbnvslkdvnaidsfj !!!! ####### is wrong with people?!? This made me sick to the point I couldn't even finish the article.

[payxibka 10,045]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/31/sibling.stabbings/

[MsMariah 0]

no clue at all of their family member being a homicidal maniac? wow, impressed with their candor.....

[Niels Bohr 72]

This guy is the type who takes no resistance. He's the lion within the family.

[Heracles 417]

ZOMGsdgjkwoeitdkfbnvslkdvnaidsfj !!!! ####### is wrong with people?!? This made me sick to the point I couldn't even finish the article.

Nothing wrong with people. The problem is with the system here.

####### like this is the reason why a growing number of developed countries are walking away from the epic failed anything goes US approach to life and removing kid's and people's access to filth. Like the implementation of a national net filter stopping rubbish from entering the country and polluting people's minds.

[fozzie 41]

ZOMGsdgjkwoeitdkfbnvslkdvnaidsfj !!!! ####### is wrong with people?!? This made me sick to the point I couldn't even finish the article.

Nothing wrong with people. The problem is with the system here.

####### like this is the reason why a growing number of developed countries are walking away from the epic failed anything goes US approach to life and removing kid's and people's access to filth. Like the implementation of a national net filter stopping rubbish from entering the country and polluting people's minds.

Erm..I think he was just not right in the head. Violence on TV, if that is the kind of thing you are talking about, is only one part of it. It may give them the idea on 'how' to do it but not the desire or inclination to carry out the act. That is a far more complex argument than just blaming society.

[Ban Hammer 13,333]

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

ZOMGsdgjkwoeitdkfbnvslkdvnaidsfj !!!! ####### is wrong with people?!? This made me sick to the point I couldn't even finish the article.

Nothing wrong with people. The problem is with the system here.

####### like this is the reason why a growing number of developed countries are walking away from the epic failed anything goes US approach to life and removing kid's and people's access to filth. Like the implementation of a national net filter stopping rubbish from entering the country and polluting people's minds.

Erm..I think he was just not right in the head. Violence on TV, if that is the kind of thing you are talking about, is only one part of it. It may give them the idea on 'how' to do it but not the desire or inclination to carry out the act. That is a far more complex argument than just blaming society.

Yeah - as with the guy on the bus in Canada I'll not be surprised if it turns out that this guy did not have some sort of life-long mental illness. Usually how it goes - as in the UK, there's little provision in the US for mental healthcare (it being near impossible to have someone institutionalised these days).

[Heracles 417]

Erm..I think he was just not right in the head. Violence on TV, if that is the kind of thing you are talking about, is only one part of it. It may give them the idea on 'how' to do it but not the desire or inclination to carry out the act. That is a far more complex argument than just blaming society.

Society is not to blame. It's the relatively easy access to rubbish which exasperates the condition of someone who is ill. Hence the reason why so many other countries are restricting people's access to violent crime material and other rubbish; which is also known to desensitize people. Where society is to blame is the 'each to their own' combined with the you are free to literally do whatever you want attitude we have instilled into our culture. AKA not my problem so who cares.

It's interesting to see people claim that guns are a problem and should be restricted (if not eliminated all together) yet these same individuals tend to harp on about exposure to violence having little to no effect on people, let alone kids. I am not a psychologist but that is a no-brainer. As some said with regards to guns, "Violence begets violence". No ifs or buts about it. The United states lax rules with regards to what is or is not acceptable is another reason for the huge disparity in crime rates between European nations to the United States. Can't blame this one or many other incidents of violence on guns.

Another thing with regard to guns and comparing it to exposure to violence is that guns have been part of the human culture for a few hundred years now. Whereas, the ever expanding horror and violence films are a recent phenomenon. Ultimately, much in the same situation with guns, in the right hands even a tank is safe. Yet in the wrong hands this can and will inevitably lead to disaster. Hence why you don't let people drive around with armed tanks.

Also keep in mind, the other kids in that family are now ruined for life.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Constellation

[LaL 418]

So much for this kind of savagery "associated" with only certain cultures. Will all the real ####### stand up, please stand up, and care to link this story as well to any certain region?

[Heracles 417]

So much for this kind of savagery "associated" with only certain cultures. Will all the real ####### stand up, please stand up, and care to link this story as well to any certain region?

You mean guns aren't to blame? Daaam.. I thought guns were responsible for all violence in America and that by eliminating them all violence would seize.

Therefore, if guns are not to blame, what could it be.

[sara..... 371]

this was one of the most horrible stories i have ever read, someone in that family must have known he was loony tunes!!!!!!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There's no proof whatsoever that the media acts like some sort of contagious disease - and that watching a movie with a rape scene will spontaneously inspire an ordinary person to act out what they've seen.

But this is a red herring - as there is no indication whatsoever why the guy did what he did, or what the psychology behind it was. As usual people use these stories to push their own agenda and scapegoat the perennial favourites of violent videogames, movies and porn.