Highlands slay arraignment today in Lynn

LYNN – The man charged with murdering a fellow Haitian last Wednesday and then triggering an Amber Alert and a multi-state scramble by police is scheduled to appear in Lynn District Court today.Rodlyn Petitbois, 28, faces murder charges for the stabbing death of Greenland Etienne, a 33-year-old mother of four who witnesses to the murder said tried to call police when Petitbois stabbed her in the face.Petitbois fled the High Rock Street apartment where the 1 a.m. murder occurred and traveled by bus to Brooklyn, N.Y. with girlfriend Louna Eveillard and their four children. Petitbois was arrested hours after the murder in New York and Eveillard and the children were unharmed.Since then, police have charged Eveillard, 26, with being an accessory to murder after the fact.In the incident summary filed in court with the warrant, police stated that the “version of events Ms. Eveillard gave investigators clearly contradicted the facts of what happened?there is probable cause to believe that Louna Eveillard assisted Mr. Petitbois after he stabbed Greenland Etienne to death.”Two adult witnesses to the murder told police Eveillard sought shelter along with her children in Etienne’s apartment about three weeks ago after Petitbois assaulted Eveillard in their Whittier Street apartment.Petitbois and Eveillard have known each other about seven years and moved from New York to Lynn about a year ago.Etienne’s sister said Etienne and Eveillard knew each other for about a year. Etienne was a single mother of four children, ages 4 to 9, and relied on relatives to help her care for the children while she worked nights at the NECCO factory in Revere.Etienne’s relatives recently expressed to her their concerns about Eveillard living with her and urged her to have the woman and her small children find another place to live.Last Tuesday night, Petitbois went to 99 High Rock and told Eveillard to come with him. She refused and he left the apartment and returned intoxicated. He drank liquor and ate a meal at the apartment and, sometime after midnight, began arguing with the two witnesses and Eveillard and Etienne.At one point he picked up two knives, threatened a man in the apartment with one and cut Eveillard on the left hand. Witnesses said Etienne said she was going to call police. Petitbois stabbed her in one of her eyes.He then left the apartment and Eveillard followed him with her children.Petitbois was arraigned Thursday in New York on fugitive from justice charges. The Essex District Attorney’s office had maintained until Thursday that witnesses said Eveillard had been taken against her will after the slaying.(Item reporter Dan O’Brien contributed to this report.)