Fundraising campaign set up for ‘Hunter’
Boy, 7, lost both parents in tragic murder-suicide
WOONSOCKET — An online fundraising campaign for family members who have taken in the seven-year-old boy who lost both his parents in a murder-suicide Sunday has generated over $18,000 in just three days.
The GoFundMe campaign for relatives of Hunter Benvenuti and his slain mother was created on Oct. 2 by Debi Quinn Vannoy of Wakefield, a biology professor at New England Institute of Technology. Her relationship to the boy could not immediately be determined and she did not respond to emails.
“Healing Hunter,” as the GoFundMe campaign is called, raised $18,607 from 246 do- nors as of Friday afternoon – rapidly closing in on its goal of $25,000.
Hunter is the son of Glenn Benvenuti of 11 Bluestone Drive and his ex-wife, Michelle Berthiaume-Benvenuti of North Smithfield. The couple had been divorced since 2013 but shared custody of the boy, whose mother dropped him off at his father’s house regularly.
On Sunday morning, police say, Michelle was retrieving her son from a custodial visit when Glenn Benvenuti fatally shot her before turning a weapon on himself, taking his own life. A billing clerk at East Bay Community Action Program in East Providence, Michelle
was 45 years old; Glenn, a foreman at a commercial bakery in Millbury, Mass., was 56.
Hunter was in his father’s split-level ranch on Bluestone Drive at the time of the shootings, but he was unharmed. Police say he was upstairs and heard the shots, but didn’t think there was a problem. Investigators found the bodies of Glenn and Michelle in separate rooms on the lower level of the house.
Police say the motive for the killing is uncertain, though neighbors and acquaintances of Glenn say he spoke of custody-related tension with his ex-wife and complained that he was suffering from depres- sion.
In a synopsis explaining the purpose of the Healing Hunter campaign, organizers indicate that the child has been taken in by relatives on Michelle’s side of the family.
“On September 30th, 2018, Hunter tragically lost both of his parents and his world was immediately turned upside down,” it says. “Healing from this horrific event will take lots of time, patience and love which his remaining maternal family will unselfishly dedicate themselves to, despite needing to grieve themselves for the loss of their daughter, sister, niece and cousin.”
The organizers of the campaign – “Team Healing Hunter” – say they aim to lessen the burden of lost wages and additional custodial expenses on the child’s new caregivers “in the hopes that the family can focus on what’s important in their long journey of healing with Hunter.”
“This is a proud family and they would not ask for this help on their own,” the synopsis says. “Nonetheless, this family will do whatever it takes to ensure that Hunter has the best support possible and this financial effort will also allow them to focus more energy on that cause, and not on less important distractions.”
Reacting to news of murder-suicide earlier this week, the Rhode Island Coalition for Domestic Violence spoke about the hurdles facing children who witness domestic violence.
The organization said that such children can develop serious, long-term health and developmental problems, including depression, drug use, poor academic achievement and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Children witnessing domestic violence represents a local and national public health crisis, with nearly 2,000 incidents and children present every year during domestic violence arrests in Rhode Island,” RICADV said.
The agency said it was “particularly distressed” that Hunter was present during the murder-suicide of his parents and “our entire community of survivors and advocates embrace this young boy and his caregivers with strength and love, and hold them in our thoughts and prayers.”
The crime occurred on the eve of Domestic Violence Awareness Month – a time, the agency said, that ought to be an occasion for “hope and healing.”
“Instead we are in mourning,” RICADV said. “Rhode Island has now experienced three domestic violence homicides in 2018 – all three were murder-suicides, all three were committed with a firearm, and two of the three had children in the home at the time of the incident. No words can adequately describe the impact that such a horrific act can have on family members, friends, loved ones, and the community as a whole.”
Anyone interested in visiting the gofundme page or making a donation can log on at