Deaf Woman's Body Found in Drum in NYC

Watch Video: Turnto10.com - Providence woman's body found in drum in NYC.



NEW YORK CITY - A young woman from Providence was the victim of a gruesome murder in New York City.



The body of 19-year-old Francis Alfonso Pellerano was found in a 55-gallon drum inside a Harlem apartment over the weekend.



"I always knew that something was going to happen to her. I wasn't sleeping at night," the victim's father, Manuel Alfonso, told NBC 10 News through a translator.



Pellerano was Deaf and could not speak. She was a student at the Rhode Island School for the Deaf on and off for about five years, until she left the school late last year.

Family members said she went to New York with a young man she met on Facebook. He is also Deaf.



Media outlets in New York reported that Pellerano may have been planning to leave the boyfriend. Pellerano's body was found in the barrel by the boyfriend's grandmother, who smelled a foul odor.



There have been no arrests. The boyfriend is under psychiatric care in a New York hospital.



"I want justice because I know he's not crazy. He cleaned all the blood after he killed her," Alfonso said.



The Rhode Island School for the Deaf is planning a memorial for Pellerano. SOURCE: http://www.turnto10.com/story/21552695/providence-womans-body-found-in-drum

Deaf Woman's Cat Seized By Animal Control Officers

SHELBY, NC. - 'My heart is just broken': Deaf woman's cat seized.



A basket of cat toys sits forlornly on the carpet in Cindie Steever's apartment in Shelby along with an empty food bowl.



Steever said her small apartment feels barren and empty without Costello. For Steever, Costello was more than a pet. She was her ears. Steever can't hear a knock on the door. A ringing phone goes unnoticed. She speaks with the help of her fingers and an interpreter. Steever, who is Deaf, told The Star her small gray and white cat would alert her to sounds around her home. Through her interpreter, she described Costello as her "champion hearing cat."



Last week, Costello was taken by Cleveland County Animal Control officers when they were called to her home to remove some kittens. Steever's anguish cannot only be seen in her fingers, but her face. "I relied on her," she said.



Jacquelyn Moore, Steever's friend and interpreter, said Steever felt intimidated by several people. "She thought she was being forced to give Costello up," Moore said. "She felt she didn't have a choice."



Steever, who got Costello in 2011, said the cat recently had three kittens. Her landlord told her she had to find homes for the babies but that she could keep Costello. She was given a week. Read more: http://www.shelbystar.com/news/local/my-heart-is-just-broken-deaf-woman-s-cat-seized-1.64712



Source: shelbystar.com