It's been 3 years, RIP Stephanie

01/20/2014

3 years ago I found myself living a real life nightmare as my coworker, Stephanie Moulton was brutally murdered by Deshawn Chappell, a client of mine at work. She was only 25 years old.

It has been difficult, every time I go to work, I think about that day and sometimes I wonder what exactly happened and where and all the gory details but I know I don't really want to know.

I remember my mom and older bro were driving me to work that day because we had stayed over at Foxwoods casino in CT. On the way, on the radio there was something about a staff member at a shelter who was killed. My mom had asked me if my place is considered a shelter. I told her no, it's a group home. I didn't think anything about it.

We pulled up to my work and my mom said to me "I don't think you'll be going to work today" I said "why not?" my mom said "there are a few police cars and fire engines parked out front and there is yellow tape across the yard"

I tried to call my supervisor, she didn't answer her phone and I called my friend Megan, who works for the company, she didn't answer her phone. I left messages on both.

I was glued to the TV and boston.com, waiting for something to be said.
At first, they treated it like two separate cases. A young female body was found behind a church a few towns away. In a separate report, there was an abduction of a female who worked at a shelter. As the minutes passed and minutes turned to hours, a bit of new details came out here-there. At some point they connected the two cases but didn’t identify the female. At this point, I know some female I work with, was killed. It wasn’t till 8:15 PM when I was refreshing my screen and there I read it, as clear as clear could be and I just screamed and cried out “IT WAS STEPHANIE! OH MY GOD! IT WAS STEPHANIE!” and I went and cried to my mom. We sat for the next 2 hours as the news was putting together the who what where and when… and I think it was about 10:45 when they announced they got their suspect and it was Deshawn. Naturally my first thought was, that could have been me that could have been me that could have been me. Over the next few days, as I got emails and phone calls from friends and family, I remember it was two people who kept calling me, kept checking in on me. It was Megan from work, who although she knew a lot, she couldn’t tell me for confidentiality reasons. I appreciated her checking in on me but to me, a friend wouldn’t have told another friend what they knew. Or at least, I would have. The other person was Karen. She called me, listened to me cry, as well as getting my mind off of the situation by talking about other things.
Unfortunately, my two “closest? Friends?” John and Jeffrey, actually made the pain worse. Their way of dealing with something negative is by making a joke out of it and they both were joking about it. I don’t recall what they said and I am glad.

The company was forced to move all the residents to another group home. We got the option to work at other locations or leave the company all together if we chose.

It was sometime in March when we went back to the house, at first it was for group grief counseling, the first two sessions were held at the main office, away from the house. We cried, we shared our thoughts, feelings and stories and as my supervisor said to me later in a supervision, “It is as if we all graduated high school and the rest of the world are still there. No one will ever truly understand what we went through except for us who did.”

A few weeks after our initial group grief session, the residents came back. We had the opportunity to be there if we wanted. I wanted to be there for my clients. I knew that no one else as far as regular staff members would be there. They weren’t ready yet but I felt I had to be there. I remember when I went up the stairs, one of my clients was coming down the hall, he said thank you for being here. Then crossing all counselor-client guide lines, we shared a hug. I don’t remember what he said after but I remember laughing and thanking him.

It was definitely difficult. I remember feeling paranoid for the first few weeks after, feeling scared and not wanting to be by myself but I didn’t share that with my family or friends. They would tell me just to get over it. It’s over and done with. However, the people I work with, they all knew because they had the same exact feelings-symptoms and some had it even worse.

The company hired an attorney. We got the opportunity to meet with him 1-on-1 to talk to him-decide if we want him to represent us or if we wanted to get our own lawyer. I knew within the first 3 minutes of talking to him that I wanted him to represent me. Over the next 3 years we would meet randomly. Then this past October, October 8th or 9th, was my day in court. I testified, and thanks to a very nice judge, he put me at ease by telling me the setup of his court room. Then the DA asked me some questions and the defense asked me questions and I was brave, I stood up to the questions which the defense was trying to ask me and I told him what I knew and what I knew…wasn’t going to help him.

The trial lasted just over 2 weeks and although the defense tried for insanity, the jury didn’t by it and through the entire book at him. He was sentenced to life in jail without the chance of parole.

Unfortunately, I found out from a friend of mine who sent me the Boston.com article and not by my company or my lawyer.

Stephanie can finally Rest In Peace.

However, it’s not the end for me and my coworkers as my company is being sued and so at some point in the next 2 months, or my attorney says, I will be called to testify in the civil trial.

Thanks to Stephanie’s mom, there has been laws put in place to make it less likely for something like this to happen again. Unfortunately, the state can’t pay for two staff members to be on every shift but we now have a life line, so if we’re in trouble, we hit the panic button or if some sudden movement, the signal will go to the life line company and over an intercom they will ask us if everything is ok. If we don’t respond, they will sent fire, police and an ambulance.

Stephanie was putting herself through college to be a psychiatric nurse. She was 25 years old and was engaged to be married.

Unfortunately, my supervisor couldn’t deal with everything and after a month of leave, she officially walked away in October from a job she loved and people she cared about.

This horrific real life nightmare effected us all in ways we will never truly comprehend.
RIP Stephanie Moulton, you may be gone but you will never be forgotten 01-20-2011

P.S. if you want to read about the trial, just google her name. You'll find all the news paper articles

John Bon Jovi: August 7th, 4:15

It was another day, perfect Texas afternoon
Mother and two children play the way they always do
As they raced home from the mailbox, a mother and her son
Against a little girl of six years old, the independent one
The deputies went door to door through all the neighborhood
They said, "I got some news to tell you folks, I'm afraid it ain't so good"
Somehow something happened, someone got away
Someone got the answers for what happened here today
Oh no, oh no
Oh no no no no
Tell me it was just a dream, August 7, 4:15
God closed His eyes and the world got mean
August 7, 4:15
Now the people from the papers and the local TV news
Tried to find the reason, cop dogs sniffed around for clues
Someone shouted, "Hit and run" the coroner cried, "Foul"
Her blue dress was what she wore the day they laid her body down
Oh no, oh no
Oh no no no no
Tell me it was just a dream, August 7, 4:15
God closed His eyes and the world got mean
August 7, 4:15
No no
I know tonight that there's an angel up on Heaven's highest hill
And no one there can hurt you, baby, no one ever will
Somewhere someone's conscience is like a burning bed
The flames are all around you, how you gonna sleep again ?
Oh no, oh no
Oh no no no no
Tell me it was just a dream, August 7, 4:15
God closed His eyes and the world got mean
August 7, 4:15
Tell me it was just a dream, August 7, 4:15
God closed His eyes and the world got mean
August 7, 4:15
4:15
4:15
4:15