By Seamus McGraw
Richmond, Va. (Crime Library) - Continued
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| Bryan Harvey |
Neighbors heard nothing as family died
Bryan Harvey, who worked days as technology specialist for the Henrico County school system, had been for decades a popular figure on the local music scene. After traveling to Los Angeles in the early 1990s and recording several albums with "House of Freaks," a band that gained some national notoriety, Harvey returned home to Richmond and continued to play in local clubs to much local acclaim. In fact, he had played with his current band NrG Krysys a hotel near the Richmond International Airport on New Year's Eve, returning home about 2 a.m.
Kathryn, whose half brother had played murdered doctor Rex Van De Kamp on the popular television series "Desperate Housewives," friends say, was the proprietor of "World of Mirth," a local specialty gift shop that she co-owned with local music producer Jim Bland. Bland also owns Plan 9 music.
Neighbor Stephen W. Tarrant, who like others in the leafy suburb watched in shock as the police investigation began Sunday said there was never any indication of trouble in the house.
"They were an extremely decent, friendly normal family and, as far as I or anyone else knew, they were very fond of each other," Tarrant said. "Their kids were the kind of kids you'd want to have yourself and that reflects the kind of family it was."
"Other children came over to play with them," Tarrant said, adding that Bryan and Kathryn Harvey "had a wide circle of friends" with whom they regularly socialized.
"They had friends over frequently," Tarrant said, but even still, they were never raucous. "They were everything was you would welcome next to you as your neighbor," he said. "
"There were never any loud parties, no fights, never any abusive language of any kind, never any suggestion of anything questionable or shady," he said. "Suspicious people didn't frequent the place," he said, noting that in an old, stable neighborhood like that one the Harveys lived in, neighbors tend to keep an eye out for one another.
Despite that neighborly vigilance, however, none of the neighbors spied anything amiss in the hours leading up the slayings, Tarrant said. "I didn't hear anything, didn't see anything out of the ordinary New Year's Eve," Tarrant said, adding that other neighbors had told him much the same thing. "The first I knew of it was when the first fire truck arrived," he said.
In fact, the Harvey family's reputation for neighborliness went far beyond the confines of their neighborhood.
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