Marques Harper was a four-year-old boy from Bakersfield, California, who was killed on July 6, 2003, along with his siblings Lyndsey and Marshall and their grandmother Earnestine Harper. The five family members were found in their home, each having been shot or stabbed. Vincent Brothers, the children’s father and a vice principal at Fremont Elementary School, was accused of the killings.

Prosecutors built the case around forensic evidence that contradicted Brothers’ alibi that he had been in Ohio at the time, including insect remains on a rental car that placed him traveling between Ohio and California, along with inconsistencies in his testimony and witness material. Brothers was arrested in April 2004, convicted of five counts of first-degree murder in May 2007, and sentenced to death; appeals and legal challenges followed.

The killings devastated the Bakersfield community and raised questions about motive, with prosecutors pointing to marital and financial troubles. Does anyone have memories of the Harpers or information that could add detail to the family’s story?