Woman, 3 girls brutally attacked in home

J

JellyFish

Woman, 3 girls brutally attacked in home
2 armed men seen at Revere break-in

By Maria Cramer and Ari Bloomekatz, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent | July 6, 2006

REVERE -- The out-of-breath teenager pounding on the door described a frightening scene between sobs: Two gun-wielding men had just broken into a nearby home, attacking a woman and three teenage girls. Blood, she told the neighbor, was everywhere.

The armed intruders escaped before officers arrived early yesterday, leaving Revere police to investigate the incident as a home invasion.

Investigators are looking into possible sexual assaults based on interviews with the victims, said a spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office.

The homeowner, described by neighbors as a divorced mother of two who works as a real estate agent, was taken away on a stretcher.

The three girls -- including the woman's daughter, described by friends and neighbors as a frail, epileptic 14-year-old -- were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where doctors treated them for sexual assault as a precaution, police said.

None of the injuries were life-threatening, police said.

``It's just sickening," said the homeowner's 19-year-old son, who said he was on the South Shore at the time of the attack.

He talked to investigators after arriving at the house yesterday afternoon. He hugged a neighbor, tears welling in his eyes.

Last night, authorities had no suspects and only a limited description of the men whose brazen attack left neighbors and friends of the victims shaken.

``We hope to have more information once interviews with the victims are wrapped up," said Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney's office.

A family friend said she visited the homeowner at the hospital and that all of her ribs were broken and that she had stitches in her jaw.

``I couldn't believe she was that beat up," said the friend, who declined to give her name.

The friend said the homeowner told her that she and two girls were molested, one girl had a gun held to her head, and the intruders stole all the jewelry in the home.

The Globe is withholding the names of the mother, her daughter and son, and the other girls in keeping with its policy of not identifying victims of alleged sexual assault without their consent.

Some neighbors said they were not surprised by trouble at the house on Rice Avenue, which overlooks Point of Pines Beach. The homeowner had been charged with serving minors alcohol at an underage party in May 2005, say police.

It was not clear yesterday how those charges were resolved.

Neighbors, who held a crime watch meeting last week because of concerns about violence, said they often called police to complain of loud noise coming from the house.

Revere police Captain Michael Murphy said yesterday that police had not identified any suspects. Four people -- the homeowner, her daughter, and two of her daughter's friends -- were in the house when the intruders arrived, police said.

Revere police yesterday responded to a call from a neighbor's home at about 6:15 a.m. reporting a possible break-in at the victims' house.

But they released few details about what happened in the house.

Matthew Milaiko, 22, said the 17-year-old girl who escaped during the attack came to his door early yesterday ``ringing the door like crazy."

``She was in between sobbing and crying," he said.

The girl told Milaiko's father, who came to the door, that ``they beat someone, they put guns in our faces," said Matthew Milaiko, who said he witnessed the conversation.

The Milaiko family made the 911 call.

Bill Lagorio, 48, who lives nearby, said he was driving by the house as he headed to work at about 5:45 a.m. yesterday when he saw three young people he did not recognize from the neighborhood: a young woman and two men who appeared to be in their 20s.

``They had no expressions, no smiles, like they were on a mission," he said.

Suspicious, he said, he drove around the block to follow them and saw the trio cross Witherbee Avenue near the victims' house.

By the time he reached the corner, they were gone, said Lagorio, who said he told police what he had seen.

After the assaults, several neighbors said they had seen three young women taken out of the house. One of the young women was bleeding profusely from her head and had to be assisted by an emergency worker.

The woman was taken out on a stretcher covered in blankets.

``You just hope it wasn't anything tragic," said neighbor Carolan Hill, 62. ``One of the girls walked out and had a big bandage on her head."

A friend of the woman's daughter said the girl's mother is ``fragile." ``She has a bad back and weak bones; she gets hurt easy," said Danielle DiBartolomeo, 15.

Another neighbor, James Carter, 30, said he turned over a videotape from his front porch security camera to police.

Last night, police released photos taken from the video showing the car they believe the suspects were driving: a red or maroon Honda or Acura that is missing the front left hubcap and has recent front-end damage.

Police spent hours at the scene interviewing neighbors. Yellow crime scene tape surrounded the two-story gray house, as police collected evidence and took photos.

As the day went on, signs of normalcy began to return to the neighborhood. Residents played football on nearby sand dunes. One neighbor brought out chicken salad sandwiches for the residents standing near the crime scene.

Most people in the neighborhood, residents said, have lived there for several years. People who have not lived in Point of Pines at least 20 years are considered newcomers.

Joseph DiCarlo, 81, who lives in the neighborhood, said: ``It's a tragedy. It's just one of those sad, sad things that happen."

Raja Mishra and Brian B. Ballou of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at [email protected].
 
Note how they got away BEFORE the cops got there. So much for depending on the cops to save you. They are lucky they are alive at all.
 
Some neighbors said they were not surprised by trouble at the house on Rice Avenue, which overlooks Point of Pines Beach. The homeowner had been charged with serving minors alcohol at an underage party in May 2005, say police.

It was not clear yesterday how those charges were resolved.

Neighbors, who held a crime watch meeting last week because of concerns about violence, said they often called police to complain of loud noise coming from the house.

[thinking]
 
Derek, you know what pisses me off about that comment?

SO WHAT? That's what pisses me off. What does that have to do with this story? Who cares if they were running a RAVE out of that house. That doesn't it give anyone the right to treat people like that...

So who cares what was going on at that house.
 
C-pher said:
Derek, you know what pisses me off about that comment?

SO WHAT? That's what pisses me off. What does that have to do with this story? Who cares if they were running a RAVE out of that house. That doesn't it give anyone the right to treat people like that...

So who cares what was going on at that house.

I agree......to a point. If you choose a lifestyle that opens the door to crime and unsavory characters, it's understandable that the neighbors aren't surprised that the incident took place.

For example, my friend lived on a street where one of the home owners children was selling drugs out of the house. The house was burglarized and completely ransacked. Did their actions justify the burglary? No, but it certainly makes it easier to understand why it happened.
 
Martlet said:
I agree......to a point. If you choose a lifestyle that opens the door to crime and unsavory characters, it's understandable that the neighbors aren't surprised that the incident took place.

For example, my friend lived on a street where one of the home owners children was selling drugs out of the house. The house was burglarized and completely ransacked. Did their actions justify the burglary? No, but it certainly makes it easier to understand why it happened.

That's what I was thinking. If your going to throw parties and have stangers or questionable characters over, who case the joint, find out it's an easy target, and come back later, well you put yourself in a position to be hurt.
 
Right, and I see where you're coming from. But it let's people think that while it might be understandable, they almost act like they deserved it.. And I don't like that.

Although when I first read this, the first thing that I thought was that it had to be someone that knew the house. That's been in there and knew where things were. So it had to be someone that they knew, or was at one of the parties.
 
C-pher said:
Right, and I see where you're coming from. But it let's people think that while it might be understandable, they almost act like they deserved it.. And I don't like that.

Although when I first read this, the first thing that I thought was that it had to be someone that knew the house. That's been in there and knew where things were. So it had to be someone that they knew, or was at one of the parties.

Of course they didn't deserve it. If I was walking drunk with a fist full of hundreds in north Minneapolis and got mugged would I have deserved it? No, but I should have known better...
 
C-pher said:
Although when I first read this, the first thing that I thought was that it had to be someone that knew the house. That's been in there and knew where things were. So it had to be someone that they knew, or was at one of the parties.

That was my impression as well.

Also, I agree that while nobody "Deserves" that sort of treatment, there is some level of responsibility on the mother for setting up the situation where these people had (presumably) already had access to the house. And at the risk of being even more presumptuous, what are the chances that the assailants were looking for something a little stronger than jewelry?
 
No matter what the circumstances were for that invasion, I think its important to have an alarm system with a panic option. The system on my house has a feature that when two buttons are pushed at the same time the alarm sounds and it sends a "help" signal to the local PD. Its meant for a home invasion situation or medical emergency.
 
Milsurps 4 Me said:
No matter what the circumstances were for that invasion, I think its important to have an alarm system with a panic option. The system on my house has a feature that when two buttons are pushed at the same time the alarm sounds and it sends a "help" signal to the local PD. Its meant for a home invasion situation or medical emergency.

I have a similar device or two in my home, I just pull on a curved piece of metal and it makes repeated very loud sounds, thereby alerting the police [smile]
 
MarkM said:
I have a similar device or two in my home, I just pull on a curved piece of metal and it makes repeated very loud sounds, thereby alerting the police [smile]
[rofl] Me too!
 
I carry one of those Emergency Buttons with me, too. I've also got a couple in strategic locations around the home. It's really good for those types of emergencies, but I'm not sure how much good it'll do if I ever find that I've fallen and I can't get up. [wink] I'm not sure whether my neighbors are familiar with the old signal of three bangs indicating a need for assistance.

Ken
 
KMaurer said:
I carry one of those Emergency Buttons with me, too. I've also got a couple in strategic locations around the home. It's really good for those types of emergencies, but I'm not sure how much good it'll do if I ever find that I've fallen and I can't get up. [wink] I'm not sure whether my neighbors are familiar with the old signal of three bangs indicating a need for assistance.

Ken


I figure the day I fall and can't get back up, only one "signal bang" will be sufficient...
 
Note to Jellyfish - unless the police start patrols inside residents homes, how would that have arrived before those responsible for this incident left the scene?

Are you saying that it warrentless entries should be allowed inside the home to stop a possible crime in progress based on the possibility that a crime could be taking place?? I doubt it...
 
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