News Report - Scientifik

METHUEN -- Police say it appears a rap artist took his girlfriend on a death ride on Interstate 495 yesterday, first shooting her in the head and then turning the gun on himself.

Dinitri A. Behrmann, 26, formerly of 127 Foster St., Lawrence, was driving north in a maroon Toyota sedan when he shot Beverly Cora, 27, then shot and killed himself yesterday at 3:30 p.m. near the Route 213 exit, police suspect.

The car careened off the highway, striking a tree, and flipping over several times before coming to rest on its roof. The accident caused a six-mile back-up and hours of delay for commuters.

Ms. Cora, who rescue workers described as beautiful even with bloody wounds to her head, worked as a hairdresser at John Charles Salon in downtown Andover. She had recently moved from Lawrence to an apartment in Haverhill. Prosecutors said they believed she shared the apartment with Mr. Behrmann.

Police said they do not know what led to the shooting. There was no history of trouble between the couple.

But last week, Ms. Cora told Angelis Guzman of Lawrence, a co-worker at John Charles Salon, that Mr. Behrmann had a history of mental instability, but so distrusted everyone he would not seek psychological counseling.

Ms. Cora pressed Mr. Behrmann to get help because he was ''seeing things,'' Ms. Guzman said.

''But he wouldn't do that,'' Ms. Guzman said, ''because people might think he was crazy.''

Mr. Behrmann and Ms. Cora leave a 5-year-old son.
Co-workers remembered Ms. Cora as friendly, pleasant woman who took great delight in her son.

One of her customers, Rita Dolan of Andover, said, ''She was a great girl. She was meticulous, very friendly, very sweet. I don't know what her little boy is going to do without her. She was a good mother.''

Another customer, Rose Lucchesi of Lawrence, said, ''She was a good hairdresser. She was a peach, really. She was a nice girl.''

State troopers recovered a handgun in a field of bloody debris a short distance from the wreckage on the side of the high-speed lane.

Mr. Behrmann, was a well-known rapper, known as Scientifik, who had released at least one album filled with lyrics about Lawrence.

Essex County District Attorney Kevin Burke said investigators would await today's autopsy results before making an official ruling in the case.

''We believe the shooting took place in the car,'' said DA spokesman Stephen F. O'Connell.

''Both had been shot in the head and a gun was recovered 20 to 30 feet from the car. The circumstances are still under investigation,'' he said.

Mr. Behrmann was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital, where he died of a gunshot wound to the head. Ms. Cora died after being flown by Med Flight medical helicopter from Lawrence General Hospital to Boston Medical Center Hospital.

State Police detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office were heading the investigation into the fatal shootings.

Mr. Behrmann was not well-known to local police. He was involved in some minor incidents in Cambridge, according to investigators, but nothing that would indicate a criminal pattern that would lead to yesterday's tragic shootings.

She had not taken a restraining order out against Mr. Behrmann and her relatives told police there was no history of violence or disputes between the couple, Mr. O'Connell said.

But Ms. Guzman, a cashier at John Charles Salon, said that last week Ms. Cora confided to her Mr. Behrmann was going through a mental crisis and suffering from delusions. But he was so paranoid, Ms. Guzman said, he would not seek the help he needed.

Ms. Cora, though, never told Ms. Guzman that her boyfriend had threatened to harm her or had beaten her.

''I told her he needed some help,'' Ms. Guzman said. ''But he wouldn't do that.''

Several years ago, Mr. Behrmann went through a mental crisis, disappeared and could not be found by his family, Ms. Cora told Ms. Guzman.

He turned up in New Jersey, and he told Ms. Cora he had been wandering and was ''lost,'' Ms. Guzman said.

''After that,'' Ms. Guzman said, ''she said he was another person.''

Ms. Cora was not seeing another man, and Mr. Behrmann was not jealous, but paranoid, Ms. Guzman said.

Ms. Cora worked yesterday morning and then left for lunch. She had several afternoon appointments, but never showed for them.

Ms. Guzman said Ms. Cora's car had been having problems, and she sometimes relied on Mr. Behrmann for rides.

Mr. Behrmann's aunt, who lives at 127 Foster St. in Lawrence, said her nephew most recently lived in Haverhill.

''I know nothing about it,'' she said. ''I know nothing about his life.''

Mr. Behrmann is believed to have had other children.

He moved to Springfield Street in Lawrence at age 12 from Brooklyn, N.Y., to live with his aunt after his mother's death.

In a 1994 Eagle-Tribune interview, he said fatherhood was very important to him and he intended to be a big part of his sons' lives since he had met his own father only once, for about a half hour.

He said during the interview his music was an outlet for the anger he felt as a black man.

''Most rappers lived hard lives, and people die around them. (A poor black man) is almost assumed to be a criminal at birth. We all could have been drug dealers or thieves,'' he said.

Mr. Behrmann started to perform in Boston-area rap clubs while he was a student at Lawrence High.

Mr. Behrmann would open for his mentor in the music business, rapper Ed O.G. of Boston whose first single ''I Got To Have It'' went to No. 1 on the Billboard magazine rap charts.

Mr. Behrmann got so busy in the rap world, he dropped out of Lawrence High two months short of graduation.

It is not clear how long he had known Ms. Cora.

Yesterday when police and fire units responded to the accident scene , they initially feared both passengers had suffered life-threatening injuries as a result of the rollover that totaled Mr. Behrmann's car.

''I didn't know about the gun or the shooting until after we had left the scene,'' said Haverhill's Deputy Chief David A. Meehan, who responded with the department's engine four and rescue one units, which pulled Mr. Behrmann from the wreckage.

''To me, it was a complete surprise that they had been shot. I've been on the job 35 years and have never come across an accident that turned into a shooting. But once we found out, things clicked. We knew why we were having problems (in the rescue). And it all made sense.''

When they arrived, the Ms. Cora was already out of the car, having been rescued by Joseph R. O'Brien, of Haverhill, and another man from that city.

''The woman was bleeding profusely from her mouth, nose and ears. And there were chuncks of flesh on the left side of her face. I had no idea she had been shot until a trooper told me later,'' said Mr. O'Brien, who found the woman lying inside the car, flat on her back. She was breathing, but but not conscious.

''It's an awful thing for something like that to happen. She was so young and beautiful. She was somebody's daughter and many peoples' friend,'' he said.

Mr. O'Brien said he and the other Haverhill man were unable to get Mr. Behrmann from the wreck.

''Half of the vehicle was flattened like a pancake. There was no way for us to get inside,'' he said.

After viewing the wreckage, Deputy Chief Meehan was concerned that the accident could have been much worse.

''It appears the car traveled down the grassy median a distance before it hit a tree. And in my opinion, that tree possibly kept the car from going over the median strip into the southbound lanes (of Interstate 495),'' he said.

''There would have been a lot of traffic there. If it didn't hit that tree, it also could have gone back out onto the road to the right (Interstate 495 north),'' he said.

State Police estimate the car was traveling at about 55 mph when it flipped over.

''It was a smooth drive off the road and onto the median before it proceeded to roll,'' said Trooper James Martin.