Murder in Providence: ‘I Just Want to Get Away from Here’
Thursday, September 01, 2011
He was only 26 years old, but, by the standards of the Chad Brown housing complex where he grew up, Lamarr Trisvane was an “O.G,” or Old Guy.
“Basically, he was like an older brother to me,” said his adopted brother, Fred Trisvane, 21. “Every time I got in trouble, he was there. Every time I needed something, he was there. And if I did something wrong, he was there to correct me.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe two brothers grew up together in the Chad Brown area—the city’s first low rent public housing project, which consists out of 28 row houses packed into a 13-acre complex. The area is among the poorest neighborhoods on the North End of Providence, with an average household income of barely more than $9,000.
At the time of his death, Lamarr was living a few blocks away from Chad Brown proper—but the two brothers remained close. Fred said they often played basketball together. Lamarr was the better ball player, he recalled. “I could never beat him on that,” he said. “He took that to the grave with him.”
Fred describes his older brother as someone so devoted to music that he often walked into the house he grew up in singing out loud—sometimes aggravating his grandmother, Anna Trisvane, who raised them. “He loved his family,” Fred said. “He loved his grandmother. He’d do anything for her.”
Lamarr also loved animals, Fred said. Standing in the doorway, he blocks one of Lamarr’s pets, a red-nosed pit bull named “Roxy” from bolting out into the front yard. “He basically raised her from a puppy to this,” Fred said.
His death tore the family apart.
A year afterwards, some of his closest relatives have stopped talking to each other, divided by lingering bitterness over his loss, according to Fred. “Basically, he was the person that kept everything together,” he said. “Everything went downhill after he died.”
“It feels empty. It doesn’t feel right anymore,” he said. “That’s why basically I’m looking every single day to get out of this place.”
Since moving to the Chad Brown area at the age of 7, he said he’s had his fill of vandalism and violence. He recalls seeing dumpsters set on fire, cars flipped over, and rampant drug-dealing. “They’re nuts out here,” he said.
Once, when he was 8, saw a man shot in cold blood in the street in front of his house.
“I just want to get away from here, because I’ve seen too much for one lifetime,” he said.
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