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Jeremias Bins: Anger over wife’s religion fueled beatings, cops say

Boston Herald, USA
May 22, 2006
Laura Crimaldi
news.bostonherald.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Monday May 22, 2006

Hubby turns self in after brutal slayings

A Framingham carpenter’s ‘jealous’ rage over his wife’s devotion to her Mormon church may have driven him to beat the housekeeper and her 11-year-old son to death with a hammer Saturday night, friends and investigators said.

“He was apparently jealous of her membership,” said Maurice Hiers, president of the local chapters of the Church of Latter Day Saints. “We knew of the challenges she was having because he was jealous of the time she spent here.”

Investigators allege Jeremias Bins, 30, bludgeoned to death his wife, Carla Souza, 37, and her son, Caique, in their third-floor downtown apartment. Officers found the mother and son suffering from “severe head trauma” after Souza, a Brazilian immigrant, managed to place a 911 call at about 11 p.m., authorities said.

About 90 minutes after police made the gruesome discovery, Bins, carrying his 5-month-old son Felipe in his arms, took a taxi cab to the Framingham Police Department to turn himself in, prosecutors said. He will be arraigned today on two counts of murder at Framingham District Court.

“He always had a problem (at) home and he was always saying things like, ‘I’m going to kill her, or something to her,’ ’ Souza’s brother, Elvio Maia, told the media through a translator. “He was saying that he was going to take the kid away, the baby.”

Mormon church leaders said Bins did not approve of the hours Souza, a housekeeper, spent worshipping at the downtown Framingham branch of the Church of Latter Day Saints.

“He didn’t like her religion,” said Rosemary Ferreira, a family friend.

Several months ago, a fight erupted between Souza and Bins over use of the household computer, friends and neighbors said. Bins allegedly assaulted Souza and Caique during the argument. Caique, who also attended the Mormon church, started to stand up to his stepfather, who he feared would harm his mother.

“He promised to (Caique), ‘I am going to kill your mother. I am going to take care of you and your mother,’ ’ said Souza’s neighbor Fatima Cardoso.

Souza, a native of Bahia, married Bins about two years ago. The couple’s 5-month-old son, Felipe, is in the custody of the Department of Social Services, a spokeswoman said. Caique is Souza’s son from a previous marriage.

Money was tight in the household because Souza had to cut back on her house-cleaning workload due to her pregnancy and Bins was having trouble finding carpentry work and feeling depressed, neighbors said.

Recently Bins, a Catholic, confided his disapproval over his wife’s religion during discussions over coffee at the home of his landlord, Francisco Dutra.

“He said they were fighting a lot over her religion in the past few weeks,” said Dutra, who lives in a neighboring apartment building. “He told me he was running out of patience.”