Love is not supposed to hurt. Unfortunately, Sheryl Outerbridge, a 38-year-old, mother of three died at the hands of those who claimed to love her most.
According to the New York Times, Sheryl was involved in a polyamorous relationship with Malik Wilkerson and his wife Devonee Wilkerson for several years and lived with the couple most days. The three-way romance is said to have been filled with violence, rage and abuse.
According to the NY Times:
Sheryl Outerbridge, a 38-year-old mother of three, was buried last Wednesday in New Jersey, hours after her funeral service in Harlem. One of the suspects in her death, Devonnee Wilkerson, was arrested and charged with kidnapping and assault; her husband, Malik Wilkerson, was in custody in Pittsburgh and awaiting extradition to New York, the police said.
Outerbright’s sister, Crystal Outerbridge, spoke on the incident: “Initially, she thought she was in control and this is one big party, my sister loved the fantasy; she didn’t want to see the reality behind it, the reality that she was with a predator with a smiling face.”
On Dec. 2, the fantasy came to an unfortunate end. Sheryl left the Wilkersons’ home without their permission and Malik proceeded to call her family and friends in a rage, expressing that he believed Sheryl was seeing other men. Devonee later told police and that she and her husband eventually drove around Queens until they found Sheryl at a train station in Jamaica. She went on to say that they forced her back to their home, which is where the deadly beating began. Apparently, the couple beat her in turns, but for two very different reasons. While Devonee was upset about a tattoo that Sheryl had gotten on her buttocks, which read, “Bish Baby,” a pet name that Devonee reserved for her husband, Malik’s rage stemmed from concerns about Sheryl seeing other men.
Devonee described the brutal hammer attack to the police:
“There are boundaries not to cross,” Devonee later told police. “She should have never gotten that tattoo, because I am his wife and that kind of tattoo is reserved for me. I snapped again,” Devonee told detectives before confessing to throwing a beer bottle at the victim’s head and burning her with a lit cigarette. “That was another boundary not to cross.”
Devonee is being held without bail on kidnapping charges that resulted in death. She has also been charged with assault with the intent of causing physical injury with a weapon. She is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 19. Malik was later picked up in Pittsburgh, where he awaited extradition to New York.
