Parents of Murder Victim in Dark and Grieving

Jessica Cormier

As the murder investigation into the tragic death of Jessica Cormier continues, her grieving parents say they have been told nothing by the district attorney’s office or the police with regard to the stabbing death of their daughter.

Clarence Earl Berry, who was living at the Chelsea Y, remains in jail without bail awaiting a hearing on February 2 as a result of being charged with the murder of Cormier, whom he allegedly stabbed twice two weeks ago as she walked on a sidewalk near her home on Pearl Street in Everett.

The 59 year -old Berry pleaded innocent to the murder charge in Malden District Court the day Jessica Cormier was buried.

The dead woman’s parents, Walter and Barbara Cormier, both grew up in Chelsea. Barbara Cormier heard Jessica Cormier’s screams. Her mother said she felt Jessica hit the front door when she collapsed. Her mother ran down the stairs to find her daughter breathing heavily but with no wounds showing and no blood at all spilled at the scene.

While her mother screamed for help – she had no cell phone – neighbors called 911.

“Jessica was trying to say something but the words never came out. The EMT’s took her out of our hallway. It was then that they found her wounds and realized how serious her condition was. They took my girl away in the ambulance. She died at the hospital. The last time I saw her is all I remember,” Barbara Cormier told the Independent.

She and her husband said their lives have been turned into a nightmare since their daughter died.

“Jessica laying on the floor in the hallway finding it hard to breathe but holding my hand and unable to talk and fading away is what I am always thinking about. It is hard to walk through the hallway for me,” she said.

Cormier later died at the Massachusetts General Hospital from a stab wound to the heart and a second stab wound to the chest.

Cormier and Barry apparently knew one another. However the dead girl’s parents are at a total loss as to what exactly the relationship was between their daughter and the man being held for her murder.

“We never met him. We never ate with him. We never got a phone call from him. We know absolutely nothing about him,” Barbara Cormier said.

Her husband Walter agreed.

“Jessica worked  7 days a week. She just finished school to be a dental technician. We were all helping her out looking for a job – and now this,” said her father.

Her mother said their daughter was quiet, weighed 90 pounds, worked all the time, would come home from work, have a bite or rest a bit and then go out with friends.

It was after just such a day that she was murdered on the street where she grew up.

“I can tell you this,” her mother promised. “We are waiting for justice to be done. We are waiting for the trial. We’ll be there all the time everyday until this guy gets what he deserves,” said Barbara Cormier.

Walter and Barbara Cormier want to know what happened.

Her mother heard her screams and ran out of the house and cried out for someone to call 911.

Her father was taking a nap and didn’t hear the commotion.

“I never got to say good-bye,” Walter Cormier said.

Barbara Cormier’s late father is former Chelsea city building inspector, Steve Melesuic.

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