Murder in Lynn: A troubled life ends in act of courage

LYNN – Arrests and moves from one apartment to another marked Greenland Etienne’s last several years, but her final moment alive found the 33 year-old Haitian native trying to save another woman’s life.Etienne was fatally stabbed Wednesday morning when an argument between her friend and the woman’s estranged boyfriend escalated into physical violence.Etienne’s uncle, Joel Piton, said outside his North Franklin Street home Wednesday afternoon that Etienne’s four children ages 5 to 9, mother, siblings and several relatives were inside his home coming to terms with what happened.”The guy stabbed her right through the eye,” Piton said. “My sister right now, she is very sad.”He said the children “know something is wrong” but hadn’t been told of their mother’s death in an interview.Piton said Etienne’s four children were sleeping in the High Rock Street home when their mother was killed. He’s not sure if they heard anything.”She left four children behind,” he said.The murder left Etienne’s shocked family and Ford School Principal Claire Crane scrambling to sort out the tragedy and care for Etienne’s four children.Yvenson St. Hillaire, 9, and Jaclin Damas, 7, attend the school along with a younger sibling. A fourth child attends another school.”We’ll help the family get resources – clothes as well as day care. They need very basic services,” Crane said.She said the children lived with their mother when they were not spending time with their grandmother in Salem.Police say Rodlyn Petitbois, 28, fatally stabbed Etienne when she tried to stop him from stabbing the new boyfriend of his children’s mother, 26-year-old Louna Eveillard. The couple fled the home with their four kids setting off an interstate Amber Alert.Eveillard hid at 99 High Rock St., where Etienne was living for fear of another assault at the hands of Petitbois who, a witness told police, assaulted Eveillard only three weeks ago.Eveillard brought her four young children, ages 11 months to 3 years old, to 99 High Rock where Etienne was living while facing eviction from another Highlands apartment.Petitbois came to the 99 High Rock between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday. After spending several hours at the apartment, he picked up two knives and cut one of Eveillard’s hands before threatening a man in the apartment. When Etienne said she was going to call the police, Petitbois stabbed her in one of her eyes.Etienne moved frequently in the recent months, listing a 2007 address at 134 Adams St. and a more recent one on Rock Avenue where her landlord claimed she owed $4,200 in rent. The Lynn District Court clerk’s office issued an execution of process order for her eviction on Monday.That order was the latest court action against Etienne who was ordered in May 2007 to stay away from former boyfriend and Lynn resident Robinson Brinville.Brinville filed a court complaint in July 2007 stating “he is in fear” of Etienne after she left several messages on his phone. Etienne also faced an assault charge in June 2007 brought by a woman who told police she was Brinville’s girlfriend and said Etienne threw a coffee mug at her on Rockaway Street.In 2002, she was charged with assault on a child under 14 following an argument with her brother, Adler. Etienne told police she did not throw her four month-old niece to the floor but she was arrested after the girl was taken to the hospital.Friends and neighbors of Petitbois and Eveillard say the man was out of a job and trying to get back on his feet.A Lynn grocery store owner named Midlher, who declined to give his last name, said Petitbois mentioned traveling to New York when he saw him at his store on Sunday.”The family had some issues, he (father) wasn’t working, and he told me that he wanted to take the kids and move to New York where he’s from,” he said. “He wasn’t my friend, and I really have no idea if he was a good father or not. The mother was a good mother, but I don’t know what happened. It’s sad.”Abraham Dang, who lives across Whittier