Chaquinequea Brodie became a crusader against domestic violence after her sister, ECSU student Alyssiah Wiley, was killed by her boyfriend four years ago.
Tragically, Brodie, 29, and her 9-year-old daughter were shot to death last Friday in Brodie's Waterbury apartment. Her 2-year-old daughter was unharmed in the incident.
Police have charged Brodie’s boyfriend, Anthony Rutherford, 29, with the murders of Brodie and her daughter. He is being held on $5.25 million bond.
Chaquinequea Brodie was vice president of the West Haven-based Mothers of Victim's Equality Inc., or MOVE, a nonprofit group that raises awareness about domestic violence and dating violence. The group was founded by Brodie’s mother, Corrinna Martin after her daughter Alyssiah’s murder in 2013.
On MOVE’s Facebook page, Martin wrote the day after Chaquinequea’s murder, “The hardest thing for me as a parent to do is continue living on after suffering the brutally heinous lost of my baby... so I thought. I know now that THE HARDEST THING is to continue to live on after suffering the brutal heinous lost of two more of my babies…”
According to several news reports, Anthony Rutherford is from Jamaica and has been living in Connecticut for about a year. Police say he has a criminal record.
This report includes information from The Associated Press.
