Mon, 11/05/2007
By Robert Lowell
Reporter-American Journal (Westbrook, Maine, USA)
GORHAM (Nov 5, 2007): Faith Joyal always wanted a peaceful childhood for her her two sons. In 1997, Joyal and her husband, Bob Myers, and sons Robert and Marc, moved to Gorham from their home in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Faith Joyal said one reason the family decided to move was to escape the dangers of Houston.
"Houston city streets were pretty violent," said Myers.
But the family did not find safety in Maine. Just six months after moving to Gorham, Robert, who had been a running back for his high school football team in Texas, died April 4, 1998, after being stabbed in the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant in Portland.
“I think about him every single day,” said Faith Joyal, a educational technician at Narragansett School in Gorham. “We miss him all the time.”
The man who spent nearly two years in prison charged with murdering their son died Saturday night in a gunfight outside Howard Sports in Saco. According to police, Seiha Srey, 25, of Cape Elizabeth, exchanged at least 15 shots with Andy Luong, 22, of Biddeford. Srey's body was found the next morning in a wooded area near the sports complex.
“We’re not surprised. He chose that lifestyle,” said Faith Joyal.
Luong fled the scene and led police on a car chase from Buxton into Gorham, where spike mats halted the Mercury he was driving. An autopsy determined he died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound in the mouth.
For Srey, the gunfight brought an end to a troubled life. He was well known to police and spent time in and out of jail.
Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland said Srey was notorious in Portland. “His criminal history is no secret,” he said.
After spending nearly two years in prison charged with stabbing Joyal, Srey was released and the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. One of the investigators on the case, Nance Monaghan, allowed Srey to come live with her at her home in Cape Elizabeth.
There Srey became the center of a controversy over whether he would be allowed to attend Cape Elizabeth High School. School officials were forced to allow him to attend when the charges against him were officially dropped, but then he attended classes only irregularly for about a month before leaving the school system, according to former school Superintendent Thomas Forcella.
It wasn't long before Srey again faced criminal charges. In 2001, he was charged with breaking into a Portland home on Halloween. Srey, a native of Cambodia, originally pleaded guilty to the charges, but later changed his plea when he learned he could face deportation for a guilty plea.
Srey spent about two years in jail after being convicted on those charges. He was released in 2003 and would have remained on probabtion until June 2008.
“It's amazing to us that Srey was out, period. He should have been in jail,” said Bob Myers.
Faith Joyal doesn't know whether Srey murdered her son, but if he didn't, she believes he knew who did.
Murdered in Portland
For Robert Joyal, the adjustment to Maine had not been easy. He was 18 and a senior in high school – a difficult time for any teenager to pick up and move.
It was made more difficult by the fact that he could not play football, because at that time, Gorham High School did not have a team. Joyal had been playing since he was in fourth grade. He was a running back and defensive end for his high school football team in Texas.
Myers said his stepson looked larger than his measured height – 5 feet 6 inches. “He was wide in the shoulders,” he said.
Bob Myers said his stepson had just rented an apartment on St. John Street in Portland, not far from where he died. Joyal never got to sleep in his apartment, as the night he was murdered would have been his first there.
Joyal also had just bought his first car, a Ford Bronco, that day. Myers said his stepson pulled out of their Gorham driveway about 5 p.m.
“I told him to take care of himself,” Myers recalled. “And off he went.”
That night, a Friday, Joyal and a girlfriend from Gorham, along with a friend from Buxton and his girlfriend, went to Metropolis, a drug-free club for teenagers on Forest Avenue.
The parents don't know exactly what happened at the club that night, but they believe trouble may have arisen over the girls. Joyal’s girlfriend urged the foursome to leave, and they went to Denny’s in his friend’s van. But when they arrived at around 1 a.m., Faith Joyal said, they were ambushed.
Joyal’s friend was punched and Joyal was attacked when he jumped from the van to help. Faith Joyal said someone pulled the shirt over her son’s head and he was stabbed three times.
In a story published in the April 8 American Journal, then- Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood described what police believed was the murder weapon. Chitwood said it was a knife with a 10-inch, double-edge blade. The story said there were more than 50 witnesses.
Robert Joyal’s funeral was held on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where his mother was a native. She said many kids from Gorham attended the funeral.
“They were very sweet to us afterward,” she said.
Faith Joyal believes her son was the victim of gang violence and that his murder may have been part of an initiation into a gang. Some of Robert Joyal's friends believed some gang members attended his funeral.
Marc Joyal-Myers was 11 when his older brother was murdered. He is now 21. Madeline Joyal-Myers, who is now 8 and attends the Village School, never met her older brother.
Faith Joyal said her nephew, Robert's best friend, just got married.
“Robert should have been there,” she said.
Based in Westbrook, Reporter-American Journal Robert Lowell can be reached at 207-854-2577 or by e-mail at rlowell@keepmecurrent.com.
"Houston city streets were pretty violent," said Myers.
But the family did not find safety in Maine. Just six months after moving to Gorham, Robert, who had been a running back for his high school football team in Texas, died April 4, 1998, after being stabbed in the parking lot of a Denny's restaurant in Portland.
“I think about him every single day,” said Faith Joyal, a educational technician at Narragansett School in Gorham. “We miss him all the time.”
The man who spent nearly two years in prison charged with murdering their son died Saturday night in a gunfight outside Howard Sports in Saco. According to police, Seiha Srey, 25, of Cape Elizabeth, exchanged at least 15 shots with Andy Luong, 22, of Biddeford. Srey's body was found the next morning in a wooded area near the sports complex.
“We’re not surprised. He chose that lifestyle,” said Faith Joyal.
Luong fled the scene and led police on a car chase from Buxton into Gorham, where spike mats halted the Mercury he was driving. An autopsy determined he died from a self-inflicted gun shot wound in the mouth.
For Srey, the gunfight brought an end to a troubled life. He was well known to police and spent time in and out of jail.
Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland said Srey was notorious in Portland. “His criminal history is no secret,” he said.
After spending nearly two years in prison charged with stabbing Joyal, Srey was released and the charges were dropped due to a lack of evidence. One of the investigators on the case, Nance Monaghan, allowed Srey to come live with her at her home in Cape Elizabeth.
There Srey became the center of a controversy over whether he would be allowed to attend Cape Elizabeth High School. School officials were forced to allow him to attend when the charges against him were officially dropped, but then he attended classes only irregularly for about a month before leaving the school system, according to former school Superintendent Thomas Forcella.
It wasn't long before Srey again faced criminal charges. In 2001, he was charged with breaking into a Portland home on Halloween. Srey, a native of Cambodia, originally pleaded guilty to the charges, but later changed his plea when he learned he could face deportation for a guilty plea.
Srey spent about two years in jail after being convicted on those charges. He was released in 2003 and would have remained on probabtion until June 2008.
“It's amazing to us that Srey was out, period. He should have been in jail,” said Bob Myers.
Faith Joyal doesn't know whether Srey murdered her son, but if he didn't, she believes he knew who did.
Murdered in Portland
For Robert Joyal, the adjustment to Maine had not been easy. He was 18 and a senior in high school – a difficult time for any teenager to pick up and move.
It was made more difficult by the fact that he could not play football, because at that time, Gorham High School did not have a team. Joyal had been playing since he was in fourth grade. He was a running back and defensive end for his high school football team in Texas.
Myers said his stepson looked larger than his measured height – 5 feet 6 inches. “He was wide in the shoulders,” he said.
Bob Myers said his stepson had just rented an apartment on St. John Street in Portland, not far from where he died. Joyal never got to sleep in his apartment, as the night he was murdered would have been his first there.
Joyal also had just bought his first car, a Ford Bronco, that day. Myers said his stepson pulled out of their Gorham driveway about 5 p.m.
“I told him to take care of himself,” Myers recalled. “And off he went.”
That night, a Friday, Joyal and a girlfriend from Gorham, along with a friend from Buxton and his girlfriend, went to Metropolis, a drug-free club for teenagers on Forest Avenue.
The parents don't know exactly what happened at the club that night, but they believe trouble may have arisen over the girls. Joyal’s girlfriend urged the foursome to leave, and they went to Denny’s in his friend’s van. But when they arrived at around 1 a.m., Faith Joyal said, they were ambushed.
Joyal’s friend was punched and Joyal was attacked when he jumped from the van to help. Faith Joyal said someone pulled the shirt over her son’s head and he was stabbed three times.
In a story published in the April 8 American Journal, then- Portland Police Chief Michael Chitwood described what police believed was the murder weapon. Chitwood said it was a knife with a 10-inch, double-edge blade. The story said there were more than 50 witnesses.
Robert Joyal’s funeral was held on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where his mother was a native. She said many kids from Gorham attended the funeral.
“They were very sweet to us afterward,” she said.
Faith Joyal believes her son was the victim of gang violence and that his murder may have been part of an initiation into a gang. Some of Robert Joyal's friends believed some gang members attended his funeral.
Marc Joyal-Myers was 11 when his older brother was murdered. He is now 21. Madeline Joyal-Myers, who is now 8 and attends the Village School, never met her older brother.
Faith Joyal said her nephew, Robert's best friend, just got married.
“Robert should have been there,” she said.
Based in Westbrook, Reporter-American Journal Robert Lowell can be reached at 207-854-2577 or by e-mail at rlowell@keepmecurrent.com.
13 comments:
America should deport all the bad people who cause trouble in the society such as Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Latino, etc... If they come here to live peacefully, it's fine. But, if they choose the gang style of living, we should deport all of them to the original country.
They will obey their country's law.
No, the US should provided moral education to those people so that they will not seek gangs and drugs as a mean to make a living.
The question is does the US has any moral value to teach those people?
what can we do with the Hunsen monkey gang in Cambodia?
No much, when you are a westerner trained retard.
To be born as human and behave like this is such a waste!
Yep, and you need to tell the US to spend more money on crime and stop pocketing it.
To say to deport all the asians back to their country is ignorant. If you haven't noticed, theres violence and corruption in every race...black, white, latinos, etc. America sponsors different race into the states and puts these different race in a poor, uneducated part of a city. People are so ignorant, do your research before you speak. There's white people who don't even obey the US laws, and you have the audacity to say deport the asians back to their original country. Where should we deport the whites that don't obey the US laws?
Being a long time friend of sreys I can say, you all have some nerve to comment especially since non of you were there. Seiha had his charges dropped. Its sad that rob had to depart do to someones own selfishness but to trash on someone that can't defend himself that's pathetic. Srey never knew who did it. I was there. You try and point out an Asian killer when 30 Asians are around. American men, woman and law enforcers rape assault and molest there loved ones and the innocent everyday and get a slap on the wrist. Now you say get rid of them all, get rid of all Asians? That's trash. You're trash. If you don't know the facts then go get fucked and let seiha rest. God forbid everyone of you are saints and your kids haven't done shit wrong right.? Its funny how all you people can have an "open" opinion but he was in trouble so he's in a gang and etc.? Grow up. Those are just lies to make yourself feel better and him look worse. Kind of wonder now how many of you live in those glass houses. I don't need to hide who I am on here. My names sean I've known seiha since we were kids and I won't stand for any of you trashing on him, when it could be your kid that gets charged with anything at anytime. I have a child and I've been to jail A lot. since I was 13 and now I'm 27. I've been off probation since 2006. I've been in the system for 10 years prior to that, does that mean I should go back to scottland? Or does that make me a bad father?now, I'm a great father. Cause change takes time. I'm sure if I was in seihas' shoes I'd be a lost cause! do to scumbags like the media with there book smart intelligents displaying how he lived his life to satisfy society? That's low and its reasons like the media that nobody will ever be considered equal. You don't have to commit a crime for the media to turn it into shit and gossip. Get a fucking life.
Seiah Srey is my uncle ; he's was like a dad to me & for you people to sit here and say he is a horrible troublesome person you don't kno him to judge him.. He's a lovin caring person , he always put his kids & family first. Rest in paradise uncle Seiah Fly high !! I miss you <3
Srey had quite a history in Portland. In and out of jail, gang activity, laughing in court at Joyal's trial. Not much of a role model as the latter bloggers would have you believe. Srey chose a life of thuggery and crime. He got what he deserved. Portland is a safer place without him.
I dont believe all Asians should be deported. Thats ignorance. Srey on the other hand, with his criminal history, using the States money and resources to keep him afloat while he sucked society dry, is finally where he belongs.
He fought to go to Cape Elizabeth High School, then didn't show up to classes. He then decided to continue on with his true occupation: crime.
Its sad that 2 families had to lose sons. Especially the Joyal family. Rob didnt deserve his fate. You can make a strong case that Srey did deserve his fate.
I knew Robert we went to Clear Lake high school in Texas and lived only half mile away from eachother some say we looked like brothers, he had an infectious personality and when we hung out it was like we we're brothers. I moved from a very violent and pour part of 3rd Ward NY to Clear Lake back in 1995 and at the age of 15 that was a hard transition so I could imagine how it was for him . I still remember him telling all of us he was moving and how it felt like loosing a brother, Robert was one of very few dudes I felt like that about. Life down here was getting alil crazy and friends we're getting killed but in hindsight he should have never left Houston. Over this long stretch of time I've lost so many friends and each one has taken a piece of my heart with them sometimes I feel like there's not much left but I focus on my kids and know that my crazy high octane past will help me guide them to a much simpler calm one. I'll never forget you Bert and all the time we chilled you are an awesome friend and even better brother love ya bro...Wayne Curtis
Fucking spoken like a true asswipe oh your a great father who’s been in jail fucking moron
Seiha, say bye! Bang bang.
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