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This story originally appeared July 17, 2003
| Thursday, Feb 15 2007 3:26 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Feb 15 2007 3:26 PM
The two men hugged. One was a son, brother and uncle to a slain family of five, and the other was the only person named as a suspect in their shooting deaths.
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Photos:
Vincent Brothers, second from left, wipes tears away as he enters the Bakersfield Convention Center during the funeral of his wife, Joanie Harper, his mother in law, Earnestine Harper, his three children, Marshall, Lyndsey and Marques on July 16, 2003.
Vincent Brothers, third from left, listens as his children are remembered during the funeral service for his mother-in-law, Earnestine Harper, wife, Joanie Harper and children Marshall, Lyndsey, and Marques.
It was a long hug between Robert N. Harper, a preacher who urged 2,000 people at a memorial service to let God be the judge, and Vincent Brothers who continued to move around Bakersfield Wednesday under police escort. Brothers, 41, also is a family member of the dead -- his wife, three children and mother-in-law.
Harper patted Brothers on the back as the two men met at the grassy hill burial site at Hillcrest Mortuary.
Although not charged with any crime, Brothers is a focus of the investigation as police try to confirm or eliminate him as a suspect.
But Wednesday was a day of mourning and celebrating the lives of the victims, and Brothers came out into the public eye.
For the most part, Brothers grieved by crying, bowing his head and accepting the comfort of those who stood by his side. Dressed in a dark suit and accompanied by some of his family, he placed his head on Robert Harper's shoulder as the two embraced.
The one obvious awkward period during the burial service came when his daughter, 14-year-old Margaret Marie Kern-Brothers, sat by his side. There was almost no interaction between the two.
At the end of the service, the girl got up without looking at him and went to her mother, Shann Kern, an ex-girlfriend of Brothers. Kern sought total custody of her daughter this week, but the results of hearings were not disclosed. Brothers did not participate in the hearings.
He has secluded himself at his apartment or at the offices of attorneys working on his case, shadowed all the while by plainclothes police officers.
On Wednesday, however, he had a controlled coming out -- leaving his southwest Bakersfield apartment in a limousine with about five other people.
The limousine was followed by several unmarked police vehicles to the Bakersfield Convention Center.
There people gathered at the memorial service for Earnestine Harper, 70' Joanie Harper, 39; Marques, 4; Lyndsey, 2; and Marshall, 6 weeks.
He was in a back part of the convention center for nearly an hour. About 200 family members and ministers were also in the same area.
All of them walked out into public view in a procession -- about 60 going to the stage and the rest to the front rows in the center of the building.
Brothers bowed his head. He was crying and his arms were held by a woman on one side and a man on the other. He sat down in the front row, about 25 feet away from four caskets, including one holding both mother and baby.
After the three-hour service, he again climbed into a limousine that led a procession of cars to Hillcrest. There black-and-white Bakersfield police cars were spotted throughout the grounds.
At the graveside, Brothers hugged Robert Harper and Linda Piggee, a sister of Joanie Harper. He sat in the front row at the Hillcrest service.
A line of people who walked by the row to express condolences to the Harper family also comforted Brothers.
Brothers watched as each casket was lowered into the ground. He again bowed his head and dabbed his eyes.
Then it was over, he got back into a limousine and drove away from the burial site of his family.