High school lovers from Cumberland, Brian and Kelly Sue Rovinet, have built a comfortable life with a peaceful family in Ellicott City.
Their son graduated from college and their daughter was right behind. They posted photos of their scenic beach vacations and portraits of happy families at sunset.
Brian’s father, Jerome “Jerry” Rovinet, 83, said 58-year-old Brian Robinette was thinking of quitting his job as a Walgreens pharmacist at Severna Park. And when he and Kelly Robinette, 57, thought about their future, they knew that their close family meant they weren’t far from their Maryland roots.
Returning to Cumberland’s hometown, the life of Brian’s half-brother Jeffrey Burnham, whom he had almost cut off many years ago, took a different course.
He still lived in a small brick house with his mother, Evelyn Burnham. He installed a security system in his bedroom and told his mother that the FBI was chasing them. Evelyn Burnham told Cumberland police she was worried. His appearance was distorted and his neighbor noticed a deterioration in his attitude. On September 27 or 28, he erupted in a group of children playing outside in a narrow street, according to neighbors.
On Thursday, September 30, the estranged half-brothers’ roads crossed in a deadly encounter. After murdering his mother’s 83-year-old friend Rebecca Reynolds in Cumberland and stealing her pristine Lincoln, Jeffrey Burnham, 46, drove to Ellicott City in the suburbs, police said. I shot Brian and Kelly Robinette at home. Their bodies were found in a gunshot wound in the bedroom upstairs, and the red corvette was missing.
After an 18-hour manhunt, Jeffrey Burnham was captured on October 1st in Davis, West Virginia.
That day, he told firefighters outside Billy Motel & Bar that he was “forced to kill three people.”
Burnham also worried his mother by expressing dissatisfaction with Brian Robinette’s work as a pharmacist administering the coronavirus vaccine. He told someone unnamed on his bill that his half-brother was “killing people with COVID shots.”
In Cumberland and Ellicott City, the Robinettes are left with grief associated with seemingly mysterious and unpredictable losses. They wondered why his half-parent Brian Rovinet killed the couple.
“He was a great father. I didn’t want a better son than Brian,” said Jerome Robinette of Cumberland, who raised Brian with his second wife, not Burnham’s father. I did.
His daughter telephoned him on September 29th to inform him of the news.
“As a father, I collapsed,” he said. “You lose your son, it’s nothing but sadness and darkness.”
In West Virginia, Kelly Robinette’s family continues to be shocked.
“She was very extroverted. There was always a smile on her face. She was happy,” Todd Miller said of her sister. “They lived a good life for themselves.”
Carrie Rovinet, niece of Brian Robinette, who lives in Glen Burnie, said: Brian and Kelly are just great people. “
Some families say they are still working on why Burnham is allegedly targeted at his brother, who said they have been estranged in recent years.
“As far as I know, they didn’t really talk for a while,” said Carrie Robinette.
Carrie Robinette said she suspected that Burnham, who had lived with her mother, might have caused jealousy to her brother, who had a successful life in Ellicott City.
“He was very smart and successful and everyone loved him,” she said of Brian Robinette.
Brian and Kelly Rovinet attended Fort Hill High School and graduated in 1981. Brian completed a two-year pre-pharmacy study at the Allegany Community College before attending the University of Maryland at the Baltimore University of Pharmacy. After he graduated in 1986, they married one day and settled in Ellicott City.
State property records show that the couple bought their home in 1996 at Carger Road, where police discovered they had been killed last week.
Brian Robinette found a job at a Walgreens pharmacy on the Ritchie Highway in Sebana Park, where staff turned all questions to headquarters. A man who greeted a reporter at the Robinettes on Thursday afternoon declined the question.
Jerome Rovinet said his son and daughter-in-law were unable to give birth, so they adopted two children. The children played sports and at home hosted family gatherings in an intimate community.
“It was an ideal family,” said Jerome Robinette. He explained that they were inseparable spouses. “I have never met an enemy,” continued Kelly Robinette. “She was like Brian. They were a perfect match.”
Robinettes visited regularly and maintained a close relationship with Cumberland, but Jerome Robinette said Brian would not visit his mother.
“He broke his relationship with her for some reason I didn’t know,” Jerome Rovinet said. “When he came to town, he didn’t mean to go see her. My other kids would.”
And while Brian and his mother appeared to be drifting apart, Burnham has also begun to withdraw more and more from others in recent years.
Carrie Robinett said his uncle Jeffrey Burnham was far away from his brothers and sisters. But he also looked different from others. She said he had long believed in conspiracy theories.
“Whenever I’m around him, he’s really quiet. He was a weird person,” she said.
She recently said her aunt Kelly, not her uncle Brian Rovinet, urged her mother to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but Jeffrey Burnham opposed it.
The family says they are also looking for other answers, such as why Burnham killed Reynolds.
“I’m wondering myself,” said Carrie Robinette. “We are all just trying to wrap our heads.”
Reynolds’ neighbor described her as a petite but independent woman. She loved her dog and maintained a healthy spirit. They said she would have a fight.
Emergency personnel found Reynolds at his home in Cumberland with a deep laceration in his throat and a pillow on his face. Cumberland police explained the signs of struggle in court documents.
According to the family Obituary, Reynolds graduated from Fort Hill High School with Evelyn Burnham in 1956, earning an undergraduate degree from the University of West Maryland and a master’s degree from George Washington University. She was a Virginia teacher for 35 years.
Police said they drove to Ellicott City with her car after killing Reynolds. However, Carrie Robinette said her grandmother Evelyn Burnham had a car and wondered why Jeffrey Burnham killed her when she had access to the car.
We were unable to ask Evelyn Burnham for comment. In a previous interview with The Sun, she was saddened that one son died in violence and the other died in prison. She said she was disappointed with what Jeffrey Burnham had done and expressed concern about his mental health.
Jeffrey Burnham’s lawyer has filed a motion to assess proficiency, according to online court records. The judge determined whether mental health professionals could assist in their defense and signed an order to understand the court system.
“Mr. Burnham is presumed to be innocent. He has the right to fair trial and due process under the law,” said Michael Alan Stankan, one of the lawyers at Burnham’s public lawyer’s office. Stated. “Currently, we are meeting with our clients and reviewing the evidence.”
Jeffrey Burnham is guilty of a single murder and illegal car carry-on in Alligainy County, where he is detained in a detention center in Alligainy County. Howard County Police have indicated that the charges are approaching, but he has not yet been charged in connection with Robinette’s death in Ellicott City.
Miller said the other family members are still trying to figure out what happened.
“It’s a kind of surreal,” said Miller, brother of Kelly Robinette.
And now, Miller remains portraying the future without his sister.
He said their family always gathered on holidays while she lived in another state.
“They won’t be the same anymore.”
Baltimore Sun reporter Tim Prudente contributed to this article.