Harvey Family Murders Hit the Blogosphere

By Steve Huff (Crime Library)

Continued

Richmond-area blogger John Sarvay, who writes the weblog Buttermilk & Molasses, was eloquent in a January 2nd post about the murders, and what the community lost, as well as the Harvey's family and friends:

"In the mid80s, the only thing I knew about Bryan Harvey was that he was in a very80s, sweeping hair band called The Dads. The first show I booked at New Horizons Cafe (one spring Sunday in 1985 Eric from The AlterNatives served coffee to the kids) ran on amplifiers borrowed from another member of The Dads. I'd never seen them, but I hated them. It was very punk rock to hate The Dads at the time.

Then Bryan and Johnny Hott started House of Freaks. I loved House of Freaks. Which made me like the idea of Bryan Harvey a little more. And when he and Kathryn got married, I liked him even more.

Kathryn Harvey

In the early 90s, when I had a crush on everyone, I had a crush on Kathryn. She ran a funky shop, the World of Mirth, on Grace Street above Exile's (a rock 'n' roll clothing store I had a crush on Exile's owner Mimi then, too), selling eclectic housewares. Kathryn and Mimi ran a quarterpage ad in Caffeine Magazine for our entire run, which covered enough of our printing costs to keep us afloat for a year.

When Kathryn moved her store to Carytown, she funked it up with a tiki bar. She began cleaning out the thrift items and selling more upscale retro kitsch. I'd stop by occasionally and chat with her and Bryan in the back of the store.

Some of my first thoughts this morning, though, were about our mutual friends friends of mine who were much, much closer to Kathryn, Bryan and their girls.

Nikole and I went by World of Mirth this afternoon. The store, obviously, was closed. A steady rain was falling, and the sky was a heavy grey. We added our flowers to a growing carpet, and stood quietly for a few moments..."

Sarvay points his readers towards Terry Rea's SLANTblog, where Rea writes, on January 2:

"My own memory of Bryan goes back 25 years, or more, to when he was a member of the Dads, a popular Fan Districtbased band. Later he and Johnny Hott performed as the House of Freaks, a twoman band that was quite wellreceived in alternative circles. Harvey has been part of a number of other Richmond bands, most recently including NRG Krysis...

"Kathryn, I first remember as a VCU art student, who waitressed at the TexasWisconsin Border Cafe in the mid80s. The first location for her World of Mirth shop was on the 800 block of W. Grace St., a few doors west of the old Biograph Theatre (now Hyperlink) location..."

Rea then provides numerous links to in-depth articles about what is currently known about the Harvey family murders and about the lives of Bryan and Kathryn.

A woman using the screen name Devil_Dahling at Livejournal.com writes:

"Bryan Harvey is dead. He was found in his basement along with his wife and 2 girls.

Bound, gagged and their throats slit.

The last time i saw them was dec 22 walking through carytown. Bryan was carrying Ruby

and Kathy was holding Stella by the hand . They were all smiling.

That is how i want to remember them.

RIP beautiful family."

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Musician, Wife & Children Slain in Home

Stella Harvey — Delivered to Death

Harvey Family Murder Investigation Continues