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The family ended up putting him in a drug rehabilitation program, Denise Violette recalled. He fled there, only to end up belligerent in the emergency room of a hospital one night. Doctors found no drugs in his system, Denise Violette said.

Off medication

His family then committed him to a psychiatric hospital. A month later, doctors sent him home with pills and a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, his sister recalled. He moved and talked more slowly, his sister said.

"He didn't seem like he was totally 100 percent," said Denise Violette.

At the time, Denise Violette doubted her brother had schizophrenia and didn't think he needed medicine. She urged him to stop taking the pills. He eventually did. As far as Denise Violette knows, that's the last time he took medicine to try to control his schizophrenia. It haunts her now that she encouraged him to quit.

Within a few months of his release from the mental hospital, John Violette headed east to North Carolina and settled with relatives in the Triangle. He eventually regained some semblance of a normal life, Denise Violette said. He picked up jobs, holding on to some longer than others, his sister said. The day before Katlin died, John Violette quit his job at Lowe's Home Improvement, a move he made to get back into carpentry, Denise Violette said.

In North Carolina, John Violette immersed himself in activities for singles at Colonial Baptist Church in Cary. That's where he met Amber Marks. The two married nearly eight years ago.

Katlin made the family three in 2002. By then, they'd set up home in a new subdivision in Clayton. They relished family time, making it a point to meet for lunch at the house each day. The three had slumber parties, setting up tents and sleeping bags in their living room.

John Violette's heart was so tender toward Katlin that he couldn't even spank her, Denise Violette said. He logged her journey with Christ in a journal; his other sister read from it at Katlin's funeral.

Denise Violette is still hoping she is having a nightmare, that some stranger broke into the house and killed Katlin instead of her brother.

"Even now, I think I will wake up and this will be someone else's family," Denise Violette said. "It is so beyond understanding."

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