Family Services provides help for crime victims
POUGHKEEPSIE – More than 200 victims of homicides were remembered in a ceremony in Poughkeepsie on Tuesday marking the 2018 National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.
Brian Doyle, CEO of Family Services Inc. in Poughkeepsie told the ceremony attendees that “the grief lasts forever” for the family and friends.
Many of those in attendance were present to pay tribute to a lost loved one. The names of the victims were read during a somber ceremony that included remarks from the Chairman of the Dutchess County Legislature, Gregg Pulver and Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Department, Jason Mark.
Pulver recalled losing a member of his family in a farming accident decades ago and even though it wasn’t the result of a crime, he understands and relates to those that have lost someone close.
Chief Mark recalled the murder of Kathryn Filiberti in Hyde Park years ago. Mark remembered attending Katy’s funeral and telling the victim’s grandmother that he would make sure justice was served.
On seeing the names of the victims the Chief said he is “familiar with far too many of the names being read today” and he assured the attendees that he too “remembers every day.”
In addition to Filiberti, the names of Paul Tegtmeier of Hyde Park and City of Poughkeepsie Police Detective John Falcone were also among those remembered.
Tegtmeier was a firefighter with the FDNY and perished at Ground Zero on 9/11. Falcone was killed in the line of duty on February 18, 2011.
Doyle said that the event is also a way to create awareness for the Center for Victim Safety and Support (CVSS) run by Family Services Inc. CVSS provides an array of services to help victims through the healing process and helps people who have experienced trauma “make sense of their experiences and feelings.”
In 2007, Congress designated September 25 as the National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.
Robert and Charlotte Hullinger, of Cincinnati, formed Parents of Murdered Children following the 1978 murder of their 19-year-old daughter, Lisa, while she was studying in Germany. The annual day of observance is on the date Lisa was murdered. The annual National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims provides the opportunity to remember those lost to homicide and honor their memories. The purpose of this day of remembrance is to focus on the impact of murder on families, and communities, and ways to support and serve survivors.
