House of Freaks Guitarist, Family Slain

A real-life tragedy has hit a former Desperate Housewives star.

Steven Culp, whose character Rex Van De Kamp was killed off on the hit ABC primetime soap last season, is in mourning after learning that his half-sister, her rocker-husband and their two children were discovered murdered in their burning Richmond, Virginia, home Sunday afternoon.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, police responding to a call from a family friend found the bodies of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their two daughters, Stella, 9, and Ruby, 4, bound and gagged and their throats cut hours before the family was set to host a New Year's Day party for friends at their two-story brick residence.

Bryan Harvey, 49, was the ex-guitarist and singer for House of Freaks, an indie band that released a string of albums during the late '80s and early '90s. He had just played a New Year's Eve show with his band NrG Krysys the night before.

His 39-year-old wife, Kathryn Harvey, was a local businesswoman who ran a toy and gift store called the World of Mirth.

Culp could not be reached for comment on his sibling's death. But his publicist, Jodi Gottleib, issued a statement.

"Steven is shocked and devastated by this tragedy. He had a very special bond with his sister and her family and is mourning this loss," the rep said. "Thank you for respecting his privacy during this time."

Authorities have yet to pinpoint any suspects or a motive for the slayings and have called in a criminal profiler to aid them in their investigation along with interviewing relatives, friends and acquaintances of the Harveys to try and produce some leads. It's also not known what was used to start the fire, but detectives are apparently getting closer to determining exactly what time they were killed.

Sources close to the investigation told the Times-Dispatch that a family friend and her daughter arrived at the Harvey house early Sunday morning to drop off Stella, who had slept over the previous night with some friends from her elementary school.

While Stella ran downstairs to the Harveys' basement family room, the mother and daughter, whose identities have not been disclosed, encountered Kathryn looking extremely pale and nervous at the top of the stairs. When the family friend asked Kathryn if she was okay, she said she wasn't feeling well and may be getting sick.

The mother and daughter bid good-bye and left at approximately 10 a.m. Less than four hours later, another family friend, Johnny Hott, arrived at the Harvey's house with his own daughter around 1:40 p.m. to help them prepare for the cookout and found smoke billowing up from the basement. He called 911, and firefighters who entered the residence to battle the blaze stumbled upon the grisly crime scene.

Kirsten Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Richmond Police Department, remained tight-lipped regarding what detectives may have dug up, including whether they had found a murder weapon, but she did confirm that there was no forced entry, which might have indicated a robbery, and there was no sign that the victims had been sexually abused. Though one anonymous detective working the case told the Times-Dispatch the condition of the bodies "left some of our people crying" and said the crime scene was as "horrible" as it gets.

In the wake of the shocking murders, relatives, friends and acquaintances of the Harveys gathered at Richmond's First Unitarian Universalist Church for a candlelight vigil to honor the husband and wife and their two children, who were remembered as a fun-loving family who were popular within their community.

No details yet on funeral arrangements or a memorial service.