Yesterday was a very sad day!

Yesterday was Becca's funeral. Rebecca Payne is the beautiful and vibrant twenty two year old friend of our family who was murdered recently in her off campus dorm in Boston.

It was an extremely tough day for Becca's friends and family. You can read an article from this morning's "News Times" by staff writer, Nanci G. Hutson, which begins:

"NEW MILFORD -- The sun was shining Monday as Virginia and Nicholas Payne bid farewell to their daughter, a Northeastern University senior killed in her off-campus apartment two weeks ago.

The summer skies seemed apropos to many of the about 300 people who attended Rebecca Charlotte Payne's funeral at St. John's Episcopal Church on the Green, because they recalled she had such a sunny, vibrant personality and embraced life with vigor.

'It seems cruel to have such a beautiful day and to have to use it for such a sad occasion, but the sunshine today is Becca's presence," Stephen Flanagan, one of her history teachers at New Milford High School, told mourners. 'You see the impact of her life today, as so many people are at her service. She really was full of hope and love and goodness.'

Later, during the processional to Center Cemetery, Flanagan said the church service, which opened with a saxophone-accompanied duet of "My Heart Goes On" from the movie "Titanic," was 'a beautiful service that captured her spirit.'"

You may read the article here. I am quoted in the story.

May God bless the Payne family, especially Becca's parents. Please dear Lord, give them hope and strength for each day. Amen.

Please pray for the devastated parents of this murdered young lady

UPDATED AGAIN THURSDAY
NEW MILFORD -- Sorrow and shock about the violent murder of a Northeastern University student found in her off-campus apartment Tuesday morning swept from her Boston campus to her hometown Wednesday.

Rebecca Payne, a 22-year-old athletic training major and campus leader, was a 2004 New Milford High graduate and yearbook editor.

On hearing the news, NMHS social studies teacher Brock Putnam described her as "a shaft of sunlight penetrating the gloom of the darkest day."

"She was a wonderful, bright, vivacious girl -- an outstanding student," said John Lee, high school vice principal. "This is a real tragedy. Everyone who has heard has been really saddened by the news."

Her parents, Nicholas and Virginia Payne of New MIlford, released a public statement through the Boston police late Wednesday afternoon.

"We would like to remember Rebecca as someone always smiling, never worrying about things not worth worrying about," the couple said of their only child, a senior in the university's Bouvé College of Health and Sciences... (SEE NEWS TIMES STORY HERE)

MORE HERE

A volley of gunshots left a 22-year-old college student dead in her Boston apartment early Tuesday.
A black van was seen driving away about the same time.

But as of late Wednesday, Boston police weren't sure, or weren't saying, whether the vehicle one witness saw leaving the quiet residential neighborhood where Rebecca Payne, of New Milford, had lived since August was connected to the death of the Northeastern University senior.

"We can't say whether it's related, but it's a piece of information, and every piece helps," police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said.

Payne, described by one neighbor as "a really sweet young lady," was found dead in her two-bedroom apartment shortly before 7 a.m. Tuesday, hours after several other residents in the 40-unit complex remember hearing gunshots.

None, however, called 911, police said.... (Continued here)



Updated on THURSDAY BY MATT O'ROURKE REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
A 22-year-old New Milford woman was found shot dead Tuesday in her Boston apartment.

Rebecca Payne, a Northeastern University student, was discovered lying on the floor in her off-campus apartment shortly before 7 a.m. A building manager called 911 after finding her apartment door slightly ajar and noticing blood inside, a law enforcement source said.

Although police had not released the woman's identity, Nicholas Payne, Rebecca's father, confirmed in an interview with The Boston Globe on Tuesday that the body was his daughter's.

He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Rebecca Payne was shot twice in the legs and once in the chest, according to police.

"A tragedy like this, suddenly and without explanation, that takes the life of one of our brightest young lights brings us unfathomable grief," said Joseph E. Aoun, president of Northeastern University, in a statement posted on the university's Web site Wednesday morning... continued here with this news story.

UPDATED NOW WITH THIS NEWS STORY FROM THE BOSTON GLOBE

ORIGINAL BLOG POST IS HERE. UPDATES WERE ADDED ABOVE AS THEY CAME IN

Please dear friends, pray for parents I know who just lost their only child - a beautiful, talented, God-loving twenty two year old daughter. This girl (not mentioning her name until it's out in the news) just exuded joy and was a wonderful role model to all around her. We just heard that she was murdered last night in Boston near where she went to college. She was staying in an off campus dorm temporarily for a week or so to do a part time job and someone got into the dorm and shot her three times. I can't even explain the devastation here. She was my daughter's dear friend.

Thank you for your prayers for her parents and friends and for her soul.

God bless,

Donna-Marie