25573: Hermantin(news)Relatives, neighbors stunned after Miramar woman, 21, found dead (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Relatives, neighbors stunned after Miramar woman, 21, found dead in bed

By Alva James-Johnson
Staff Writer

July 4, 2005

MIRAMAR -- A young woman was found dead in her bed Sunday morning when her 
mother entered her room to awaken her.

Miramar Police are investigating the mysterious death of Kathy Pierre, 21, of 
LaSalle Boulevard, as a homicide, said police spokesman Bill Robertson.

He said there were no signs of forced entry. An autopsy will be performed to 
determine the cause of death.

Pierre lived at the house with her mother, sister, stepfather and stepbrother.

Robertson said she went out Saturday night and last spoke to her sister at 9 
p.m. When her parents went to bed at 11 p.m. she still wasn't home, Robertson 
said, and her mother didn't discover her body until a little before 11 a.m. the 
next morning.

He said Pierre was less than a month shy of her 22nd birthday.

"She was a very good girl, a good student at school and a clean-living person," 
said Paul Cherilus, one of many friends and relatives who streamed in and out 
of a neighbor's house to console Pierre's family members.

Cherilus identified Pierre's mother as Florise Jean, a Haitian immigrant who 
works for a local hospital. He said she was very close to her daughter.

He said he first met Jean when she hired him to do some electrical work on her 
house a few years ago.

He said he found out about Pierre's death on the way from church, and rushed 
over.

He said Jean said Pierre didn't have a boyfriend, but went out Saturday night 
with someone that the mother is acquainted with. But he doesn't know who the 
date was.

"Of course everybody is going to speculate, but it's too early now to think 
about what happened," he said.

He noted that the dead woman's mother was devastated. "She's crying to 
everybody who comes in," he said.

On Sunday, the neighborhood where she lived was bustling with police activity, 
as Broward Sheriff's Office deputies, Miramar police, media and neighbors 
crowded near the peach-colored ranch house where the crime occurred.

Arsenio Alejo and his family opened up their home to Pierre's family and 
friends while police investigated the crime scene.

He described the family as honest and hardworking.

Some neighbors said they had already concluded that Pierre had been strangled.

Crystal Johnson, 23, said Pierre's mother ran outside screaming for help after 
discovering her body. Johnson and her parents responded, and found the young 
woman scantily dressed and lying stiff as cardboard in her bed, with dark 
bruises on her face and neck.

Johnson said it didn't appear that anything else in the room was disturbed.

"It was like a regular home, like she was sleeping," she said.

She said Pierre was a 2003 graduate of Miramar High School who attended Broward 
Community College.

She said Pierre's mother told neighbors Sunday that she didn't usually let her 
daughter go out at night, but made an exception on Saturday because she was 
turning 22.

Before the young woman left, her mother warned her to be careful.

"I'm terrified because I go out a lot," said Johnson. "Now, I'm scared to go 
out. I hope they find the killer."

Brian Livingston, 15, said he is friends with Pierre's younger stepbrother, 
Serge Delice, and Pierre took them to the movies on several occasions.

He said Pierre's stepfather is also named Serge Delice.

"She was nice," he said of Pierre. "She never showed no bad side or nothing."

Alva James-Johnson can be reached at ajjohnson@sun-sentinel.com or 
954-356-4523.


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