Denise Cosby, whose son was murdered in 2009, spoke at the Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month opening ceremony at the State House last week.

By Rebecca Danvers

Survivors of Homicide Victims Awareness Month (SHVAM) held its opening ceremony on Monday, November 23 at the State House. This commemorative month has been observed since 2000.

SHVAM is an observance that provides a platform where the state’s legislators and the public can learn from and about families who experience murder.

Survivors from across the state have the opportunity to honor the memories of their loved ones and share their journeys with the public. This is also an opportunity for the public to learn and get involved in supporting survivors through information of violence prevention, peacemaking, trauma, crisis response protocols and restorative/social justice movement.

Massachusetts was the first state in the country to dedicate an entire month to survivors of homicide victims. This year, the 2015 Survivor’s of Homicide Awareness Month was coordinated by Alexandra Chery, from the Louis D. Brown Peace Center. Each year a number of related events and activities take place across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

One of the speakers at the Opening Ceremony was Somerville’s Denise Cosby, a real estate agent with The Norton Group. Cosby lost her son, Justin Cosby, in 2009 to murder at Harvard University’s Kirkland House.

Born in Richmond, VA, Cosby received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Virginia Union University in 1978. She became a real estate agent in 2007 and has been working with The Norton Group ever since.

Cosby was a devoted mother of a daughter and son. Now she is the mother of just one. Her youngest child, her now deceased son Justin, was a student at Salem State University, about to enter his junior year of college prior to his murder.

Cosby now adds the title of author to her list of accomplishments. Most recently, she has written a memoir, Murder at Harvard University’s Kirkland House – A Mother’s Worst Nightmare, that she intends to have published soon. The memoir is an honest and in-depth recounting of the 2009 murder of her son Justin, who was murdered at Harvard University on May 18, 2009.

After more than two years of court arraignments, appearances and trials, she is now ready to share her story with the world, describing who Justin really was. Cosby is also the author of the www.survivingmurder1.com blog site, designed to bind together families who have lost loved ones to murder.

Recently mentored by Award Winning Author Michael Patrick MacDonald (All Souls), Cosby was asked to write a story about A Room All Too Familiar. You can find the story and video at www.survivingmurder1.com.

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