Last Tuesday I discovered my neighbor murdered his girlfriend by slitting her throat, leaving her two daughters motherless. I am not surprised by the turn of events because there were numerous signs that led me to believe that he was a BIT unstable.

When I first moved into the complex they made my transition into my new home easier. I was very fond of them as a couple; both of them, like myself, was from the Virgin Islands (St. Croix), and needless to say we had lots in common. Olivia was recently divorced, with two daughters, and had moved to Florida two years prior. They met while Kevin was vacationing on the island; after a few months of dating, long distance, they decided that Olivia should relocate to Florida with her girls in order to be closer to him.

Fast forward TWO-YEARS later. I moved in and as time progressed our neighborly relationship grew into genuine friendship. Kevin taught my son how to ride a bike, and her daughters would come up every now and again to hang out with him. When I first started taking night classes and needed a babysitter they were ready and willingly to keep an eye on Jay, even though my classes ended at 10pm. One of them made sure that he ate Dinner, took a bath, and was in bed by 9pm. I will always be grateful to them for being the “Village that it takes to help raise a child”. Needless to say, at one point we had gotten so close that whenever I had any type of family gathering they were ALWAYS in attendance. They were an amazing support system during my transitional period because as many of you know “Single Parenting is by no means EASY”.

Nevertheless, our relationship started to change when I realized that they were constantly arguing and fighting. As a child growing up, I was always told that whatever happens between a man and a woman is “their business”: so when it became apparent they were having serious problems in their relationship I made myself scarce. I only spoke to them if they initiated the conversation, and I NEVER asked about their relationship. Kevin was a lot more forthcoming regarding the problems in their relationship than Olivia was. He told me he suspected Olivia was cheating on him. He asked me on more than one occasion to call men whose telephone numbers he found in her address book: he thought these may have been men that she was sneaking around with. He stated that I could pretend to be her because we both had an accent and the guys probably wouldn’t know the difference. I told him that what he was asking was pointless and I would not get involved, I stated that if he was unsure of her faithfulness then maybe he should reconsider his living arrangements. A few months later, I came home to find Olivia moving out while Kevin was at work, she stated that she had gotten her own apartment a few blocks away: I wished her luck and went inside to get ready for work. Later that day Kevin came up and asked to use my computer, of course he mentioned that Olivia had moved out and I pretended as if it was the first I had heard of it. He talked a lot about her unfaithfulness in their relationship and finally left when I told him I had to get Jay ready for bed.

A few weeks went by before I saw Olivia again: Yep, you guessed it, she was back with Kevin and he was spending most of his time at her place. Over the next couple of months I would run into them either together of separately and they appeared to be getting along better. Nonetheless, one day I came home to meet a note on my door from Kevin: it was a telephone number of some guy he wanted me to call as well as his number, I tore it in pieces and when on about my business as usual. Eventually Kevin moved out of his apartment and moved in with Olivia permanently. I hadn’t seen or heard from either of them for a few months until Kevin popped up on my job to inform me that a detective may come by my house at some point to ask me questions regarding Olivia’s whereabouts on New Year’s day because he filled out a police report stating that Olivia’s car had not been stolen as they had reported that day, but that she had in all actuality driven the car to another county and burned it for the insurance money. When I asked him what all of this had to do with me? He stated that Olivia had used the fact that she was at my New Years Day party as an alibi for her whereabouts when the car had been stolen, when in all actuality she did not show up until 4pm. I told him that I was not going to lie or get involved in their drama. When I asked him why he would turn his girlfriend in, He stated, “Because she called the cops on me and accused me of domestic violence”. Thankfully no one ever contacted me regarding the matter and I had not seen or heard from Kevin again until earlier this week. I got a very disturbing phone call on Tuesday informing me that my former neighbor had killed his live in girlfriend on Monday. Apparently he slit her throat, she was pronounced dead on the scene, he is being held in lieu of bail.

To be continued