Battling breast cancer, only to be beaten to death and burned
Suzette Shivers, 55, was battling breast cancer with chemotherapy. It was not illness, however, that cut her life short. She was beaten to death on April 1, and her Nicetown home was set on fire. The perpetrator remains at large and her family wants justice.
Suzette Shivers, 55, was battling breast cancer with chemotherapy. It was not illness, however, that cut her life short.
She was beaten to death on April 1, and her Nicetown home was set on fire. The perpetrator remains at large and her family wants justice.
Shivers was an outgoing person and willing to help people in the neighborhood, said her sister Nancy Brown, 37, of North Carolina.
"She had a real good heart," Brown said.
That may have led to her being victimized.
"Sometimes she was a little too nice, too trusting," Brown said.
The day Shivers was killed, a fire was reported shortly after 7 p.m. at her home in the 1900 block of West Bristol Street.
Firefighters found Shivers under the staircase leading to the basement. Investigators told Brown that Shivers had died of head trauma from a blunt weapon, and they believe the fire was set.
Four weeks later, the investigation is continuing and no arrests have been made.
"It had to be someone she knew," Brown said. "There were no signs of a break-in."
Brown's family has faced violent loss before.
Shivers and Brown had a 19-year-old niece, Lakeina Monique Francis, who was serving aboard the USS Cole when it was attacked by terrorists while refueling in Yemen in 2000. Francis was among the 17 American sailors killed on the guided-missile destroyer.
Shivers was the second-oldest of four sisters who grew up in Philadelphia. She graduated from Gratz High School and then took classes at the University of Virginia.
She had jobs at Einstein Medical Center, with the U.S. Postal Service, and at Downey's restaurant on South Street.
Shivers was buried on April 19.
The city is offering a $20,000 reward - as it does with all homicides - for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Shivers' killer.
215-854-5983 @RobertMoran215