A sister killed, another mourns

The Boston Herald

BEVERLY BECKHAM

There is no anger in Virginia Suozzo's voice. There's pain, sorrow, even bewilderment.

But no rage.

Her 25-year-old sister, Dawn, was killed last weekend, shot in the head as she walked into their parent's house with her boyfriend, Mitch, and her 12-year-old nephew, Michael.

Dawn Brown grew up in a nice, safe Wollaston neighborhood with four sisters and a brother. The family remains close. All were at their parent's Royal Street home last weekend because Kimberlee Brown, 23, is getting married in August, and last Saturday was the ritual wedding shower.

"It was a hot day, but beautiful. A perfect day," said Virginia, who is the oldest sister. "Everyone was so happy - family, friends."

Dawn was to be Kimberlee's maid-of-honor. Dawn and Kimberlee lived together in New Jersey. Dawn's boyfriend was the brother of Kimberlee's fiance. They had come home for the weekend together. The sisters lives were entwined. They were more than family; they were also friends.

"At the end of the day when almost everyone was gone, Kimberlee asked Dawn if she wanted to go the marina with David and her for a little while. But Dawn said no. She wanted to take Mikey for an ice cream.

"She was like that. She was always giving of herself to family and friends. She was good from the bottom of her heart."

So Dawn and Mitch took Mikey for an ice cream on a hot summer night. They were back in half-an-hour. Mikey got out of the car, opened the gate to the yard, Dawn behind him, Mitch behind her, when a man walking on the sidewalk approached and called out, "Kimberlee."

"When she turned toward him, he said, `This is for you,' and shot her in the head. Mikey heard this," Suozzo says. "We heard the firecracker sound, ran outside, my sisters and my mom, and there she was. On the ground. I knew she was gone. But my sister's a nurse and she was trying to keep her alive. We got to the hospital and I thought, maybe they will be able to save her. But they couldn't. My mother and my sister told Dawn, `It's OK. You can go now.' And she died. She died."

The papers are calling the murder a case of "mistaken identity." The police believe the killer was after Kimberlee, not Dawn.

"They're both the same height. They both have blonde hair. But Dawn never wears her hair up. Kimberlee always does. The only reason Dawn had put her hair up that day was because it was so hot," her sister said.

The 24-year-old Cape Cod man police are seeking for questioning seemed like "a nice boy," Suozzo says. He was a friend of Kimberlee's. "When Kimberlee left for New Jersey last September he seemed to be happy for her. I don't know whether he became obsessed or infatuated. But I know he had to be in awful pain to do something like this. And I know Dawn would forgive him. I know that.

"She was special. She was like God's gift to our family. She was so good, you could see the goodness in her eyes.

"She moved to New Jersey in February because she wanted to be a nurse. She wanted to give of herself. That's what Dawn did best. She was always giving. Monday she was supposed to start a job as a secretary in an emergency psychiatric unit. She was going to school nights for nursing. She was in love. She was so happy.

"Now she's dead and we have to live without her and I can't figure out how to do that yet. I know that she's in a better place now. But the pain is awful. It goes away for a moment and then it comes back and it's worse than before. It's unbearable.

"I keep thinking that this is all a nightmare and maybe we'll wake up and everything will be good again, and she'll be here with us. But then I remember seeing her on the ground.

"She could have given so much to people. That's what I'm trying to say. She was special. She was truly one of the nicest people I know."

Dawn Brown, 25 years old, murdered outside her family home. Another casualty in a war so old and so ordinary it hardly seems like news anymore.