Editor’s note: I thought readers would find this information helpful, if there was a concern about a relationship among family or friends.
Her friends called her Jenn-ay, she said on MySpace, “like in ‘Forest Gump.'”
Unlike the movie Jenn-ay, however, there was no birth of a bouncing baby boy for Jenni-Lyn Watson, no marriage to a humble hero. But like her namesake film character, Jenni-Lyn would die young.
What had appeared to be an idyllic romance between 20-year-old Jenni-Lynn and 21-year-old Steven Pieper apparently devolved into a homicidal rage that left the girl dead and the guy charged with her murder.
The lovely and talented ballerina was murdered Nov. 19. Her body was found eight days later in a weedy marsh near Clay Central Park, halfway between the couple’s family homes.
Sheriff’s investigators and District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick say Jenni-Lyn broke up with Pieper in early-October after an 18-month-long relationship during which the young man bought the young woman a ring.
Messages posted by Pieper on Watson’s MySpace page, however, paint a picture of a seesaw relationship that left him jealous, rejected and angry.
Escalating anger
Initially, his anger was joking in nature, as in this line posted in November 2009 while Watson studied dance at Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa.: “u better keep in touch or ill come to pa nd kick ur ass,” Pieper wrote.
By February, though, the young man’s anger had turned serious and sarcastic:
“i miss u, stop by my house soon,” he implored, soon followed by the annoyed observation, “so your home nd ur ass dont even call me :p.”
In other postings, Pieper actually sounds resigned to the end of the romance:
“babe the summer is almost ovr nd ur ganna leave me just wanted to say thanks for everything we have had some pretty interesting times (…lol we kicked ass at beer pong even though we had like a million tacos before that) we have been through a lot together and im sad to see you go but i know ur goin to pursue ur dreams ur ganna be famous one day i know it, and were still ganna hang out when u come back to visit cuz no matter what i still live down the street :p love you.”
Sometime around April 2010, Jenn-ay posted a brief comment about dating:
“Boys give me headaches,” she wrote.
‘back off’
Pieper was jealous of Jenni-Lyn’s apparent college suitors.
After a message in which a young man told her, “you’re beautiful,” Pieper sternly warned: “Guy below me shes mine nd she knows she gorgeous so back off.”
Overall, Pieper’s ungrammatical pleas exude self-pity:
“uuhhh…seriously my life went from happy to sad in like [.]3795734895734856 sec. i dnt even kno y i try ne more.”
And:
“so this chick right here jenni-lyn marie watson is my bestfriend nd i love her nd i dnt want her to leave me i hope the rest of the school yr goes by really slow even tho i hate school so…much but i really dnt wanna c her go.”
But now she’s gone forever…
Revealing photos
The murdered girl’s MySpace page also contained dozens of revealing photos, including more than two dozen images of Steven Pieper. Most of those show him holding or kissing her. In a few, he’s petting one of two puppies and smiling broadly.
In one picture Pieper and Jenni-Lyn can be seen nearly head-to-toe facing the camera. As he stands behind her and hugs her tightly with both arms, he towers over his petite girlfriend making it abundantly clear how much bigger and stronger Pieper is. Jenni’s fingers curl around his left forearm, and the little gemstone he gave her sparkles on the ring finger of her left hand.
Another shot is particularly haunting. It’s just the two of them walking down a shoveled sidewalk on a snowy evening. Their backs are to the camera as they stroll silently away together into the darkness.
The Jenni-Lynn Watson page can be found at myspace.com/hotdancebabe313.
Russ Tarby is a longtime columnist for Eagle Newspaper’s Liverpool Review and The Eagle. He also writes about crime, entertainment and Syracuse’s sports. Reach Russ at [email protected].
