Slaying puzzles police, family

Inside her home on the 2500 block of South Colorado Street, Julie Kerwood snuggles her daughter, Sienna, a 4-month-old with bright blue eyes and curly brown hair.

The baby, wrapped in a pink sleeper, smiles and looks around in wide-eyed wonder. She is innocent to the tragedy that has gripped her mother and grandmother, Julia. She does not yet know that she will grow up without her father.

Rob Kerwood, 28, was shot to death in his truck in Southwest Philadelphia on May 5. He left behind Julie, also 28, their two children, a son from a previous marriage and a tragic question: Why was he killed?

The mystery compounds the suffering for Kerwood’s mother Julia and widow Julie, whom he had married just 11 days before his death.

The couple’s other child, 2-year-old Enzo, was happily running around the family home with a playmate last week.

A third child, 5-year-old Bobby Jr., lives with his mother in Rydal. Kerwood and his ex-wife shared custody of their son and Kerwood and Bobby Jr. frequently were together.

"My son was very close to his children. He wanted a baby girl in the worst way. He would just sit and stare at her and say, ‘Oh you’re daddy’s little girl,’" Julia said of Sienna.

Kerwood enjoyed bonding with Enzo when he took him out for father-son breakfasts.

Neither woman can discuss Rob without breaking down.

"Sometimes we don’t [get through the day]. We cry a lot and I wonder, why my only son? How could somebody do this to us? He was my life. I feel like I have nothing to live for," said Julia, 66, who is disabled and lost her husband, Robert Sr., to complications from diabetes a year ago.

THE CITIZENS CRIME Commission last week announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons involved in Rob Kerwood’s shooting death.

Police hope the attention spurs leads in the case. Six weeks since Kerwood was shot once in the face while he sat in his silver Ford Expedition truck at 61st Street and Eastwick Avenue, police have little to go on, said Homicide Detective Aaron Booker.

Kerwood left a friend’s house and went to the Auto Mall in Southwest Philly the morning of May 5 to buy a truck for his home-remodeling business.

"I’m just hoping that it’s not a situation where it was road rage because it happened at an intersection. That’s on the front of my mind right now," said Booker.

Investigators are aware of an argument the victim had with a local roofer with whom he briefly worked, but don’t think it had anything to do with his death. Nor do they believe that the shooting was a hit.

"The way it was done – small-caliber, one shot – if this was a contract killing, it would not be done like that," Booker said.

Kerwood was gunned down around 11:30 a.m. while stopped at a light. His truck drifted over to a curb and came to rest at a utility pole, said the detective.

When 12th District police arrived, medics already were working on Kerwood. He was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was placed on life support. Kerwood died around 6:30 a.m. the next day. His family did not take him off life support, Julia said.

The Citizens Crime Commission is banking on witnesses who were in the area on the Thursday morning Kerwood was shot.

"There may have been someone in the area who saw something. It was nearing noontime on a fairly busy intersection," said commission Vice President Santo Montecalvo.

The family remains desperate for answers.

"This is a life we’re talking about," Julia said. "We just beg whoever knows anything to come forward so we can have some closure. It’s not going to bring my son back, but they will be punished. They destroyed an entire family."

"I really think somebody had to see something," added Julie, who was with Kerwood for more than three years. "Or maybe there was somebody with the person who did it that knows something. You play it over and over again in your mind."

The family remains stunned that the slaying garnered virtually no media attention. It wasn’t until the Citizens Crime Commission announced a reward that a couple of outlets took notice.

Seated beside her daughter-in-law, Julia wears a black T-shirt and shorts in a show of mourning.

"I’m not going to take the black off until they find my son’s killer. I’m just not going to wear any bright colorful clothes because I’m not happy," she said.

She remembers her only child as a "good person, very caring … He worried about me a lot because of my disability. He would help me with my socks because he knew I had trouble putting them on."

The family always waited for Rob to come home from work so they could eat dinner together. Later, when his mother went to bed, her son would bring her cake and coffee.

In the weeks before his death, Julie and Rob were house hunting in Deptford, N.J.

"He was just so happy," the young widow whispered before bowing her head.

To report information, call the Homicide Division at 215-686-3334/5 or Citizens Crime Commission at 215-546-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.