Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Providence sees first murders of 2006


Police headquarters (Providence, RI)
Originally uploaded by NetParrot.

The Providence Journal (registration required) is reporting that two men - Arthur Olink of Providence and Matthew Cyr of Warwick - were found shot to death in a car parked the Providence neighborhood of Olneyville this morning. I noticed with some trepidation that this occurred less than a quarter mile from where I live.

This followed a weekend of violent assaults in the city, in which three men were stabbed, and one both slashed with a knife and beaten with a baseball bat.

The city had been making some headway in reducing violent crime, but last year saw a spike in assault and murder for reasons that have baffled both the police and mayor's office. It would be a public relations nightmare for the city if Providence were to regain its once well deserved reputation as a hotbed of urban violence and squalor after a decade of laboriously rehabilitating the city's image.

There has been no comment on the first murders of 2006 as of yet from the fine folks at the Institute for the Study and Practice of Non-Violence as to what could have been done to prevent these murders (this is obviously sarcastic - they can't do anything to prevent murders in Providence any more than I can).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

First murders? Now? We had our first murder like on the 2nd day of the year! :P

Unknown said...

I was the best friend of Mathew when I was 9 to 13 and I NEED to speak with the author of this blog...please call me asap @1401_9440829...PLEASE I beg of you with all my soul. Ty for reading. God bless Rob T over & out

Roger Williams said...

Well, that's a comment for a 15 year old blog post that I wasn't expecting.

If you need to reach out to me, this is the best place to do it (for now) at least until I know who you actually are.

Keep in mind I did not investigate Matthew's murder - I merely read about it and noted it. I am sorry for your loss, but if you have new information about his killing, and there is something I can do to help ... I'm listening.

Unknown said...

Maybe you can help... Today is the annaversery of his murder, and I find it extremely strange being it was not only the 1st murder of 2006, it was a double homicide and your blog even 15 years later is the absolute only article, post, or anything for that matter ever since...strange right given the severity and lack of info available...I mean you can type in boogywoogy and find more than one article on that then on a double homide of two young men in a city where the average murder rate is between 10 and 15 a year...that is not alot in comparison to places like LA or even Boston which is in the high hundreds & even hit the thousand mark b4...it's like the police could give a shit...I don't believe in race politics, I believe that cops don't investigate those that are poor properly, black or white if you are poor they sweep it under the rug... I am just angry at the lack of coverage this case deserves...I haven't talked to Matt since I was 13 but I still consider him to be my best of friends, nor do I know much about the path he took in life...a few years ago I tried to get in touch with the det who was in charge of his case and only got the run around that it is still open and being worked... I don't think they give or ever gave two shots about them and I see the news talk about cold cases yet his never mentioned. Ty for taking the time to hit me back and hope to hear from you again... truly Rob T

Anonymous said...

Went to school with both of them at Bain Middle school. I know that both were heavy in the drug game.

Dee O said...

Heavy in the drug game LOL. Not true

Dee O said...

Rob I am Arthur’s sister. Mat & Arthur became really close in middle school at Bain and remained that way until the day they were murdered in cold blood. Our families were treated like crap by the providence police detectives, we were met with closed doors,bad attitudes and complete disregard for Matt and Arthur’s lives. After numerous years of this behavior we gave up looking for justice through the judicial system and did our own investigation. The fact that TWO innocent guys so young were murdered together and the police or the city didn’t give one shit!!! I can tell you this the scum bag who murdered Art and Matt is no longer on this Earth! His momma suffered just as mine did. Matt and Art were not killed over drugs or anything else that may have been said, it wasn’t money motivated or gang related. We know why things happened the way they did and they didn’t deserve that.

Unknown said...

Dee, I'M SO GLAD YOU SENT ME THIS MESSAGE!!!!! I NEVER BELIEVED IN THE WHOLE "DRUGY THEORY"... UNFORTUNATLY I NEVER KNEW ARTHUR EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE HAVE TOLD ME I KNEW HIM BC WE ALL LIVED IN THE VILLAGE...I LIVED ON MAPLE ST WITH MATT AND LOST TOUCH WHEN HE MOVED TO WARWICK, I TALKED TO DANNY A FEW TIMES SOME YEARS AGO AND HE TOLD ME WHO HE THOUGHT WAS BEHIND IT. YOU ARE SO RIGHT, THEY DIDN'T DESERVE IT AND PROVIDENCE POLICE ARE WORSE THAN THE KEYSTONE COPS AND I'M SO SORRY FOR THE WAY THE RI JUSTICE SYSTEM TREATED YOU & YOUR FAM...I'M AT A LOSS OF WORDS. I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT MATT ALOT AS OF LATE...FACEBOOK LITERALY ERASED MY PASSWORD AND BLOCKED ME FROM ACCESS SO I USE MY WIFES...LOOK UP THE NAME PAULAJEAN PETERS AND REQUEST ME IF YOU CAN, GOD BLESS YOU & YOUR FAMILY & THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR RESPONDING. - ROB TRINDADE

Dee O said...

Is it me or is the original “Heavy in the drug game” comment deleted???