Torian Thompson-Carter and Jaden Thompson-Carter

UPDATE, March 3, 2010: Robbery led to triple homicide, police think
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Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn has made it clear that the four murders that took place in the city on Friday were not the result of random acts of violence. According to Flynn, those involved were a "small group of interconnected people known to each other."

Five people were arrested yesterday in connection with the crimes.

Although that's terrific police work and it's reassuring to know that some unknown random murdering maniac isn't on the street, the case is still so haunting.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Five suspects have been arrested over the last two days in connection with the triple homicide Friday on Milwaukee's south side and the killing of another woman whose body was found on the northwest side, Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said Monday.

Flynn said police continue to believe that Brittney Robertson, 19, who was shot in the head and whose body was found on the city's northwest side Friday, was involved in the slayings of a mother and her two children earlier that day.

The five people who have been arrested were "known to Brittney Robertson," Flynn said. But it's not known what, if any, relationship the suspects might have had to Rachel Thompson, 23, he said.

The bodies of Thompson and her sons, Torian Thompson-Carter, 4, and Jaden Thompson-Carter, 3, were found early Friday in the charred upper story of a duplex in the 800 block of S. 12th St.

Investigators have not revealed how the three were killed or what role Robertson played in their deaths. Police also have not discussed motives.

The fire, investigators said, was set to cover up the triple homicide. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Robertson's body was found Friday evening near N. 101st St. and W. Kiehnau Ave.

Flynn said Monday that police continue to investigate the involvement of the five suspects in the fire and the slayings.

Police emphasized that the killings were not random. Flynn described those involved in the crime as "a small group of interconnected people known to each other."

"This is an extremely complicated investigation and a troubling crime scene," he said. "We're working to tie together a number of critical incidents."

After the fire and the three bodies were discovered in the duplex Friday, Rachel's youngest child, 6-week-old Maurice Visor, was reported missing. He was found later that afternoon, unharmed, tucked into an infant carrier on the sidewalk outside Eastbrook Church, 5385 N. Green Bay Ave.

Although police would not say who left the baby at the church or why, they said Robertson had been in a relationship, now dissolved, with the infant's father, also named Maurice Visor.

Visor is in the Dodge Correctional Institution for violation of supervision stemming from a charge of fleeing and eluding an officer, according to Melissa Roberts, of the Department of Corrections.

Thompson's two other children are by another father.

I can't get the deaths of Torian Thompson-Carter, 4, and Jaden Thompson-Carter, 3, out of my head.

They certainly didn't do anything to anyone. All these poor little boys did was have the horrible misfortune of being born into an incredibly dysfunctional and violent situation.

I cannot understand how someone in that "small group of interconnected people" could murder those little ones.

"Interconnected" adults murdering other adults, for whatever reason, is terrible. It's criminal and immoral.

Adults murdering the children, innocents, is incomprehensibly evil.

...Thompson had moved into the duplex on S. 12th during the summer, and Robertson had been staying with her, according to police and neighbors. On Friday, before Robertson's body was found, police released a picture of Robertson saying they feared for her safety.

Albert Bell, 34, who lives on the north side, said Monday in an interview that he knew Robertson. But he had not known she was staying with Thompson, he said, and that he did not know Thompson.

Although he had not seen Robertson for three months, Bell said, he received a call from her between 2 and 3 p.m. Friday while her picture was being circulated on the Internet and in the news.

"She said, 'I'm calling to tell you that I won't be able to talk to you. Pray for me," he said.

..."She didn't say she was in trouble. She just said she wouldn't be able to talk to me and to pray for her," Bell said. "I didn't know what to say. I thought maybe she was running from something. But she was quiet like she was hiding, or something. She was sad, like she had done something."

All this killing -- it's nauseating.

Thompson was just 23 and already the mother of three. Now she and two of her sons are dead.

Robertson was only 19, played a role in those three homicides, and then ended up murdered hours later.

It's awful.

Flynn continues to remind the public that the community isn't in any danger because these crimes played out among a small group of people.

I don't really think that's very comforting.

What's troubling is that this small group of people was free, and on the streets. The group proved to be capable of committing horrific crimes.

There are some truly bad people in Milwaukee, too many.

If a person is so evil that he or she could murder little boys, 4 and 3, it's frightening to think of what other horrendous acts that person could have done or did do or might do in the future.

How many others like them are out there?

It's a scary thought.