Murder victims remembered at annual event

Every two years, Anne Habeeb steps before a parole board and relives the 1983 murder of her daughter Kathleen -- and promises she'll keep fighting the parole of Kathleen's murderer as long as she lives.

Vincent Day is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence for the Queens stabbing death of Kathleen -- who was a 19-year-old St. John's University student. Day stabbed Kathleen Habeeb in the heart and stole her Communion cross. He was denied parole in June.

Habeeb, 72, of Massapequa, said her daughters Carol Ann and Maureen have vowed to continue pushing for Day to remain behind bars when she is gone.

"He's in for another two years, so I have a two-year rest," Habeeb said. "I will fight it until the day I die."

Habeeb was among about 50 people at Eisenhower Park Sunday for Long Island New York Parents And Other Survivors of Murdered Victims Outreach's annual remembrance day gathering. Victor Politi, Nassau County's deputy county executive for public safety, read a proclamation that declared Oct. 23 as "Day of Remembrance for Victims of Homicide" in the county.

Many in the gathering, which included relatives of several Long Island homicide victims, gave brief speeches about their loved ones and placed flowers on a monument to murder victims at Eisenhower Park.

The event was led by chapter leader Chris Baumgardt of Lindenhurst, whose husband, Julius, an armored car guard, was killed in a botched 1994 robbery in Muttontown. Christian Tarantino of Dix Hills was convicted of the crime just in May.

Baumgardt said she does not believe in closure, but she is glad Tarantino is behind bars. Events like Sunday's gathering give survivors a chance to grieve together, she said.

"There's no closure, there's peace," Baumgardt said. "We know where he is -- the person responsible for that murder is in jail, and he can't harm anyone else."

Others came to remember loved ones whose deaths still seemed fresh. Lyonel Day of Hempstead said he can still remember thinking on a July night in 2007 that he had heard firecrackers in his neighborhood -- and then learning that his son, 17-year-old Alexander, had been fatally shot in his car outside.

Alexander's mother, Dory, said she and fellow survivors come to the memorial to "show to our loved ones that they are always in our hearts."

She added: "With the other families, we talk. We know we're not alone. They're able to be there with us."