He looked up and down the street at his neighbors' well-kept yards and buttoned-down houses. "This is a nice area to live," he declared. "You don't hear of break-ins. You don't hear of anything like that. I usually lock my doors, but I don't lock my truck" — he pointed to a red Chevrolet Z71 parked in the driveway — "I can leave tools and stuff in my truck or in my yard; my little son can leave his bike in the yard, nothing happens."

He did remember another trauma that hit the neighborhood, though.

It was a little over six years ago, right after he and his family moved in.

"There was a murder right there," he said, pointing to a stucco house kitty-corner from his backyard. "They said some guy killed his wife and daughter."

No one answered the door at the house he pointed to, but a few doors down, Sharon Cripps was home, and she verified the homicides of six years ago.

She and her husband moved to the neighborhood shortly after the homicides in 2003, she said.

"We didn't find out about them until after we moved in," she said. "It made me sick when I heard about it. Someone was murdered right down the street. That's scary. But that was it. Nothing else happened — until now."

In those 2003 slayings, which occurred less than half-a-mile from last week's homicide, Brian Christopher Sullivan confessed to stabbing to death his wife and 4-year-old adopted daughter. He was sentenced in 2005 to a life in prison without the possibility of parole.

According to news reports, Sullivan, who had a history of mental problems, maintained he was being tested by God, like Abraham in the Bible, when he killed his family.

The voices made him do it, and if the latest allegations are correct, the drugs may have made Vuksinick do it.

The "Protected By" signs in the flower beds by the front door cannot prevent inside crimes.

"It's all so sad, so senseless," said Cripps. "It just makes you start wondering about everybody."

Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com.