Brigitte Harris was born on the 6th of June 1981 in Staten Island, New York, to parents Eric Goodridge and Lucy Anne Harris.
Her parents were immigrants who relocated from Liberia to the United States.
Eric had several businesses, including an import-export company, a record store, and a travel agency.
Lucy already had two children and went on to have four more with Eric.
However, when Brigitte was born, Eric denied she was his child.
Eric was no longer satisfied with his family and eventually left them for another woman.
Lucy, now left with six children, struggled to raise them alone.
In 1983, when Brigitte was just two years old, Lucy left her six children and returned to Liberia to attend her grandfather’s funeral.
Despite leaving behind six children, she wasn’t allowed to return to the US due to not having citizenship or a green card.
The six children bounced around from foster home to foster home.
Eventually, Brigitte and her siblings moved in with her father and his wife.
In 1990, Eric took a temporary job back in Liberia, which extended for several months.
Eric’s wife grew tired of him and filed for a divorce.
The children were sent to live with their aunt, Eric’s sister, and grandma, Eric’s mom, in Providence, Rhode Island.
Brigitte’s grandma was described as mean and hateful and didn’t have an ounce of love in her body.
She treated them like slaves.
In February 1994, at the age of 12, Brigitte and her siblings went back to Liberia and reunited with their mother.
Brigitte was excited to meet her mother as she believed she would now receive genuine love and acceptance.
However, she was completely wrong.
After about two weeks, Brigitte and her siblings began to feel ignored.
Brigitte soon came to the realization that her mother didn’t care.
Once again, her mother abandoned her and Brigitte was again living with relatives.
However, living in Liberia was a culture shock for her and her siblings, especially as the country’s civil war worsened in 1996.
Somehow, Brigitte’s mother got documents proving her children were American citizens and they were taken back to the US.
Once back in the US, Brigitte moved from one relative’s home to another and eventually ended up in a women’s shelter.
Eventually, in 2007, Brigitte finally found a place of her own with no one to answer to.
She had made new friends and was working as a security guard at JF Kennedy Airport and was no longer in contact with her father.
Shortly after moving into her apartment, her father, Eric, called.
Brigitte had no desire to speak with him and told him to lose her number.
Eric’s health was failing and in June of 2007, he returned to the US to seek better medical treatment.
His daughter, Carleen, allowed him to stay with her.
Brigitte wasn’t happy that her father was now living with her sister.
Carleen tried to convince Brigitte to forgive their father as he was trying to make amends.
Although Eric was a well-respected entrepreneur in his community, behind closed doors, Eric was a monster.
He had put Brigitte through years of rape and sex since she turned 3.
The abuse continued throughout her childhood and into her teens, becoming more and more violent over the years.
Although she reported this to her mother, who then told her pastor, nothing was done about it.
Eric had returned to the US to make amends.
Her sister invited her to a family dinner, telling her that their father would be there and wanted to apologize.
Brigitte agreed to attend the family dinner and took a two-hour subway and ferry ride to Carlene’s home in Staten Island.
This was the first time she had seen Eric in years, and she was immediately angered by what she saw.
Eric was bouncing her niece on his leg just as he used to do with her when she was a child.
Not only did she find that disturbing, but her father said that he wanted to take Carlene’s daughter back to Liberia.
This triggered Brigitte.
She was furious.
She couldn’t let this happen.
She loved her nieces and refused to let what happened to her as a child happen to them.
Brigitte and her sister argued over the decision to take her child to Liberia.
She didn’t trust Eric and couldn’t understand why Carlene would agree to such a thing.
However, in Carlene’s mind, he was an old, sick man and didn’t believe he would do what he had done to them growing up.
At this point, Brigitte's mind was filled with memories of the abuse she had suffered from Eric and other relatives.
She didn't like the decision to take her niece to Liberia, so she decided the move had to be stopped.
Brigitte wanted to report what Eric had done to her to the police, but too much time had passed for them to take action.
She looked online for a solution and found the case of Lorena Bobbitt, a woman who had cut off her husband's genitals after claiming he had abused her for years.
On the 28th of July 2007, Brigitte invited her father to her apartment.
She wanted to talk to him about the years of abuse he had put her through.
She wanted him to know that what he did to her was not okay.
As a child, Eric had always tried to convince her that what he was doing was normal.
Eric lied that all fathers did the same thing to their daughters.
She eventually told him that she had invited him to her apartment to ask him not to take her nieces to Liberia.
She told him she knew his intention and he needed to stop.
And since he wanted to make amends, here was his chance.
However, Eric denied ever doing anything wrong.
Brigitte was now in a rage and screaming at him, calling him a liar and telling him that he knew what he had done.
Brigitte realized that he was not going to change and knew her nieces were in danger.
The conversation got heated and Eric got up and took a step towards her.
Brigitte pulled out her pepper spray and sprayed him in the eyes, and they fought and fell on the floor.
Somehow Eric passes out.
She looked for a way to restrain him so She handcuffed him and woke him up by splashing water on him.
When he woke up, he started screaming so she decided to gag him.
She got a towel, stuffed it in his mouth and wrapped duct tape around his head to secure it.
She left two large holes so he could breathe properly.
Brigitte pulled down his pants.
She used scissors at first.
When they didn’t work, she looked for the scalpels she had purchased about a month ago.
One cut was enough with the scalpels.
Brigitte knew that the doctors would try to reattach it if found and she didn’t want that to happen.
She brought her father’s Genitals to the stove and turned on the flames.
The smell of burning flesh brought Brigitte back to reality.
She turned the stove off, and put the burnt organ in a paper towel.
She then called 911 and left the apartment.
Police and paramedics arrived and performed CPR, but it was too late.
Eric was pronounced dead at the scene.
Upon further inspection, they found that Eric’s Genitals had been cut off.
A scalpel was located next to the body, which was determined to be the weapon used.
Two notes were also discovered at the crime scene.
One said “he wrecked my life” and the other said, “at first I blamed myself, but now I know it’s not my fault”.
911 dispatchers called Brigitte and informed her that they needed her to come to the police station.
Brigitte agreed and told them she was a block away, but didn’t show up.
Instead, Brigitte walked past the police station towards the boardwalk pier and threw away the Genitals.
She called her sister to tell her what she had done and that she was about to hand herself over to the police.
Carleen told her not to go to the police as she feared she would never see her again.
Carleen immediately stopped what she was doing and went to meet her sister.
When she arrived, Brigitte was in a daze.
Carleen reached for her sister’s hand and noticed blood covering both hands and her lap.
Brigitte had used a scalpel to cut her wrist.
Carleen immediately called 911, and Brigitte was admitted into Richmond University Medical Centre Psychiatric Ward for three weeks, and then placed under arrest.
Within 36 hours of the murder, Carleen had hired star defence attorney Arthur Adela.
She revealed to the world that both she and Brigitte had been victims of their father who had repeatedly raped them from a very young age.
She said that cutting off his genitals and killing him was their form of revenge.
However, some family members publicly denied the abuse claims and disowned Brigitte and anyone else who supported her.
Court Proceedings
After being discharged from the psychiatric ward on August 16, 2007, Brigitte was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter and was detained.
Brigitte, who had used the aliases “Lady Vengeance” and “The Original Dark Angel” on her MySpace page, said that she didn't mean to kill her father.
Two years after she was arraigned for second-degree murder, Brigitte went to trial in September 2009.
Testifying in her defence, Brigitte stated that she had researched the 1993 castration case of John and Lorena Bobbitt.
Brigitte argued that her motive for the killing was not revenge but to remove his power.
She wanted to prevent Eric from taking his grandchildren to Liberia and possibly abusing them, as he had done to her.
However, prosecutors argued that Brigitte’s actions showed she had planned it in advance.
On the 30th of September 2009, the jury found Brigitte guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree manslaughter.
One juror reported, “none of us felt that she deserved to get any murder charges, so we decided on second-degree manslaughter”.
Even though seven jurors wrote the Judge askings him to give her a short sentence, Judge Arthur Cooperman sentenced Brigitte to 5 to 15 years in prison.
After serving three years, she was released on parole on the 13th of August 2012.
Since her release, Brigitte has worked with advocacy groups to end family violence.
In a letter, Brigitte expressed her frustration with the difficulty of getting a second chance, noting that she faces rejection from family, friends, and strangers.
Brigitte feels that, despite having served her time, society continues to punish her, leaving her feeling discouraged and frustrated.
Since you read this, you might be interested in reading about Taberon Dave Honie, who was convicted of the 1998 murder of 49-year-old Claudia Benn.
His execution is scheduled for August 8, 2024.
Click here for more details.
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