By DEANNA BOYD
FORT WORTH -- It will be two years in August since James Vece shot his wife, Eliana, and 14-year-old stepdaughter, Mailen, then turned the gun on himself inside the family's north Fort Worth home.
Since then, the house in the 4600 block of Birchbend Lane has been neglected, neighbors say, the target of thieves and an eyesore with grass and weeds sometimes reaching 2 feet high before the frustrated neighbors just mow it themselves.
But June 11, a neighbor boy's discovery of a litter of kittens living in the home's garage led to the uncovering of something far more disturbing: blood left behind from the double murder/suicide.
"I have kids over here trying to pick up cats, and you've got a murder scene that has not been cleaned up?" said Katherine Powers, the boy's mother. "What kind of vermin or bugs or bacteria is that going to draw?"
"... I can see them not doing anything with the house if nobody wants to own it, but it hasn't even been cleaned up. That's just wrong."
Efforts are being made to clean up the property after inquiries from the Star-Telegram. But why the bloody reminders of a crime remained after almost two years is a complicated matter. Those involved point to a foreclosure that an attorney calls "invalid," an ongoing probate case and little or no involvement by relatives of the deceased, some of whom live abroad.
"This is a single-family dwelling where there was a horrific crime in it, and it sat vacant and even changed ownership or at least control at least once or twice in the process. I'm sure there was communication disconnect between the various people in control of it," said Brandon Bennett, Fort Worth's code compliance director. "... I can see how something like this fell through the cracks."
Bennett said city workers have made cursory checks of the home's interior since learning of its reported conditions Wednesday. He said that the house, although messy, poses no public health hazards and that no city ordinances appear to been violated.
"The inside of it looks almost like a time capsule, for lack of a better description," Bennett said. "There's still a calendar on the fridge, unopened mail. As part of the investigation, things got gone through. Most certainly it wouldn't be a neat, tidy house like folks would still live in."
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The discovery of the scene came to light after Powers' 11-year-old son noticed a litter of kittens living in the home's garage.
"Someone had apparently attempted to pry open the garage door," Powers said. "It was open about 6 or 8 inches, and kittens were coming and going from the garage."
Powers said she called animal control after her son caught one kitten. As the animal control officer was leaving her home, she said, they noticed a man inside the garage. He said he'd been hired by the management company to mow the lawn.
"I'm like, it's already been done by the neighbor," Powers said.
Noticing that the door from the garage to the home had been left open, Powers said, the animal control officer obtained permission from the man to look in the house for other cats. Soon after going in, Powers said, the animal control officer came back out, visibly upset and stating there was no way he'd been able to find any cats inside.
"He said it smelled horrible. There were beds unmade. There's dried blood on the beds and walls. There's dishes on the table. It's like somebody just walked out," Powers said. "I was just horrified." Bennett said the animal control officer denies walking inside the home, saying he had only checked the garage for cats and had been told about the blood from the man there to mow.
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Sgt. Pedro Criado, a police spokesman, said cleanup of crime scenes on private property "is the responsibility of the owners and family members."
"They're advised that there is a crime scene, so they're not shocked in any way and that they can clean it up themselves or hire a private company to do so and that those are available," Criado said.
Jim Vece's sister said her family could not have access to the home -- they were not named administrator of the estate because of the circumstances of the crime. She said she was not even allowed to retrieve any of her brother's belongings, including family photographs and videos.
"My mom passed away in '97. My brother had a videotape of her -- the last videotape of her right before she passed away," said the sister, who asked not to be identified. "He had the only copy. I'm assuming it's still there somewhere."
Chris Nester, a former colleague and close friend of Eliana Veces, said he was named administrator of the estate because her relatives live in Argentina. Nester said his hands have been tied because the house was repossessed by the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae, for loan default.
Juan Tijerina, a Fort Worth attorney representing Eliana Vece's family, said that foreclosure, however, is invalid because Fannie Mae was not aware that the homeowners were dead.
"Because of the economy, I guess they assumed it was just another foreclosure," Tijerina said.
Tijerina said he wrote to Fannie Mae, explaining that the foreclosure was not done properly because the mortgage company did not go through probate. He said he has not heard back from the company, or its attorneys, to find out whether the first foreclosure was voided and whether it is going forward with a second foreclosure.
"For the last year or so, we've been asking them to see what needs to be done to hurry up the foreclosure," Tijerina said. "We're concerned about the neighbors. The house looks terrible. They still have blood and stuff in one of the bedrooms."
Attorneys representing the mortgage company did not respond to phone messages Friday.
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Powers said Wednesday that no one from the property management company returned to check the house for trapped cats despite being assured by the man that the company would be notified. After her son heard meows coming from the garage, she called the property management company, Ohio-based Safeguard Properties, who told her only that her message would be passed onto the "interested parties."
"The yard is devastating. People know that it's abandoned. It's been broken into several times, and it looks terrible, not to mention the smell, and no one's doing anything about it," Powers said. "I'm obviously concerned about the animals. That's my priority, but if there's now dead animals on top of whatever is left in there, it's going to be a complete health hazard."
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