THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 25, 1996 TAG: 9608250062
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 84 lines
Trinity Baptist Church became a house of healing Saturday for the family and friends of Michelle Harper and Curtis Lee White II.
It was a place of comfort.
Friends and family wept and hugged.
Some sang gospel hymns and quoted scriptures from the Bible.
Some expressed their anger.
But almost everyone who came to the church on Deep Creek Boulevard for the counseling forum organized by the Camelot Youth Movement was trying to make sense of a killing that didn't make sense.
Pastors, school officials from Deep Creek High School, and counselors were on hand to help loved ones cope with the slaying of Harper.
On Friday morning, Harper, 17, was stabbed to death during a slumber party at a home on Bruno Drive in the Camelot neighborhood. White, 19, has been charged with her murder.
Three other teens also were stabbed. Two girls were sexually assaulted.
The charges against White are: capital murder, three counts of malicious wounding, one count each of rape and attempted rape, two counts of sodomy, and one count each of abduction and burglary.
Saturday's forum allowed family and friends to vent their emotions. Those present, who included family members of both the suspect and victim, said both families needed prayer and comfort.
Pamela Harper-Wood wanted everyone to remember her cousin Michelle as a friendly young woman with an infectious smile who believed in helping others.
Michelle Harper was a rising senior at Deep Creek High School. Harper-Wood, who lost another cousin, Erica Harper, a few years ago to a heart ailment, said she knows both cousins are now in heaven.
``They're guardian angels,'' Harper-Wood said with a big smile. ``And I know they're watching after us. . . . I know she's (Michelle) found peace. I know she's smiling down on us.''
Janice Harper, another cousin, said she was having a difficult time coping with the slaying. Clutching her young son with her right hand and firmly holding the church pew with the other, Harper recalled tearfully how she learned of her cousin's murder.
She was at work when a relative called.
``When they told me it was Michelle, I just cried, because she was so smart, so young and beautiful,'' Janice Harper said.
``Years ago, people died of old age. It seems so unfair that children have to grow up in a world like this.''
The Rev. O.L. Cromwell II, who pastors at Trinity, said loved ones can find solace in God's word. Cromwell quoted John 14:1 and urged family and friends to ``hold each other, love each other and lift each other up.''
Others said Friday's tragedy was a call for the community to take more responsibility for its youth.
Alice Roundtree, a resident of Camelot, urged others to get more involved with kids, such as through church youth ministries.
``It's up to us as a Christian body to reclaim our youth,'' Roundtree said. ``We don't know what power we have as believers.''
Counselors, such as Maureen D. Johnson, a counselor and an emergency mental health clinician with Chesapeake Clinical Services, said the forum was the first step.
Michelle Harper's funeral will be held at noon on Tuesday at New Willow Grove Baptist Church in Chesapeake. The family is accepting donations for the funeral arrangements.
Donations can be sent in care of the Camelot Youth Movement, 817 Drawbridge Drive, Chesapeake, Va. 23323. Checks should be made to Betty Harper. Family members said a scholarship in Harper's name is also being planned.
Johnson said a hotline has been set up for family and friends who need help in coping. The 24-hour hotline at Chesapeake Clinical Services is 548-7000. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot
At a counseling forum Saturday, Mary Harrell, a director of the
Camelot Youth Movement, sang a song of praise and worship. The group
is raising money for Michelle Harper's funeral, Tuesday.
Photos
Victim: Michelle Harper
Suspect: Curtis Lee White II
KEYWORDS: MURDER ASSAULT STABBING
ARREST by CNB