Thomas Seals, the Syracuse Common Councilor for the Syracuse University and downtown areas, described his great-niece as a free spirit.

‘She always had a smile on her face,’ the 64-year-old said.

Chiarra Seals was found dead Thursday morning in a suitcase behind a garage on Avondale Place. Brian T. Shaw, an SU senior and father of her 4-year-old daughter, allegedly killed her Wednesday evening, according to Syracuse Police.

Thomas Seals and his great-niece had been estranged for over a year, at which time she seemed to be doing well, he said. He added, however, that he doesn’t like to pry into the lives of his nieces and nephews.

‘There is a deep reservoir of faith that keeps you stable when something drastic happens in your life,’ Thomas Seals said. ‘There is nothing you can do; you can’t bring her back.’

Chiarra Seals was raised by her grandmother after her mother abandoned her as a baby and her father moved to Seattle, Thomas Seals said.

His great-niece was close to his daughter because the two girls attended Corcoran High School together, Thomas Seals said.

The last time he spoke with Chiarra Seals she was working as a nurse’s aid at St. Camillus Health & Rehabilitation Center in Syracuse, he said.

Chiarra Seals also had a 17-month-old son with a father other than Shaw.

Thomas Seals said Wednesday night around 7:30 p.m. he was leaving his home at 224 W. Ostrander Ave. to go to the American Legion Post when he received a phone call from Chiarra Seal’s aunt saying she was missing.

A tenant who lives in the apartment upstairs from Chiarra Seals at 160 Jasper St. came home to find the rear door leading to a common hallway open, which Thomas Seals said the tenant found to be unusual.

He also said the door appeared to be forced open, so the tenant called the building’s landlord.

Thomas Seals said the landlord arrived and saw Chiarra Seals was not home and that her two children were alone at the residence. The landlord then called the police, he said.

‘(Chiarra’s daughter) is a smart little girl for a 4-year-old,’ Thomas Seals said. ‘(She) was the one to give them the lead.’

He said the 4-year-old told police she saw her father hitting her mother and then carrying her out of the house wrapped in a blanket or a bed sheet. She also told police exactly what the attacker was wearing, Thomas Seals said.

‘It was a shock,’ he said. ‘(Chiarra) would never leave her kids alone.’

When Thomas Seals arrived at Chiarra’s residence Wednesday night he learned details about the situation from the police. He believes the police were forthcoming because he is a retired Syracuse police officer who served for 30 years.

When police found a body Thursday morning, Thomas Seals said he was told they were ‘quite sure’ it was the body of his great-niece.

Thomas Seals was the one who had to tell his family her body had been recovered.

‘What made it so easy was there were 15 or 20 of us at the house and we had heard rumors (the police) had found her body,’ Thomas Seals said. ‘We knew there hadn’t been any other homicides, so we figured it was probably her.’

He said he is currently waiting to officially identify the body as that of his great-niece, something he said he will be able to do once the cause of death is determined.

Thomas Seals said no one in his family can understand what Chiarra Seals could have done that would have caused anyone to kill her.

‘Nobody knows what the motive is,’ he said. ‘But in a relationship you don’t get to the point where you go and kill somebody.’

Thomas Seals said he speaks for his entire family when he discusses what he hopes will happen to the man who stands accused of killing his great-niece.

‘All we want to see is justice take its course,’ he said.

Published on March 24, 2005 at 12:00 pm