The sister of suspected murder victim Ruth Binns has told of her heartache at losing another sibling less than a year after her brother was killed.

Alea Dill spoke exclusively to The Royal Gazette about the double tragedy last night after getting tattoos done in memory of Ruth, who was found dead in her Southampton apartment on Tuesday morning, and their brother Edward (Sleepy) Dill, who was stabbed to death last October.

Ms Dill was joined at Smokin' Joes tattoo parlour in Pembroke by close friends and her and Ruth's sister Tookie Binns, who discovered Ruth's body after letting herself into the Camp Hill Road apartment.

"I'm trying to deal with it," said Ms Dill. "It hurts me a lot; it really, really hurts me."

Ms Dill, who works at Shelly Bay Market Place, has lived in the same apartment complex as both her sisters for the past year and all three were very close. Ms Dill and Tookie visited 26-year-old Ruth in her apartment, which she shared with a cousin, on Monday evening.

"She was sitting in her room with the television on and was talking and showing me her new laptop on the internet," said Ms Dill. "She was supposed to be getting it the next day. She was normal. It is kind of strange because I feel like it's not real and it's not happening."

Police yesterday revealed they had arrested a 35-year-old Devonshire man in connection with Ms Binns' death. He is understood to be her boyfriend of many years. The cause of her death is still unknown pending a post mortem.

Andrina Smith has been charged with the murder of father-of-seven Edward Dill and is awaiting trial. Ms Dill described her sister, a customer service representative at Cellular One, as a "lovely person".

"She loved children, loved going shopping, she liked to go out," she said. "She enjoyed the work she did at Cellular One. She was a great customer service representative."

She said her sister, a former Bermuda Institute student, was one of ten siblings and an aunt to nine nephews and nieces, whom she adored spending time with.

Alea and Tookie and four friends had tattoos saying "RIP Ruth" and "RIP Sleepy" done last night. The idea came from 18-year-old Darrena Gardiner, girlfriend of Jeremiah Dill, the brother of Edward, Ruth, Alea and Tookie.

Ms Gardiner said: "It's just in memory of her. We wanted something permanent to show our respect for her. We just wanted a tribute to her."

The teenager added: "Ruth wanted to be a fashion designer. She was always smiling, laughing and wanting to be with her family and friends."

Wendi Francis, 30, former girlfriend of Edward Dill and the mother of his son, said everyone was struggling to accept that Ruth was gone. "A sudden death like this, it's definitely going to feel unreal," she said.

Ms Francis said Ruth was "somebody that didn't have any enemies". "She got along great with her co-workers. They were like another family to her. She loved the TV show Gym Class Heroes. She was happy-go-lucky, easy to befriend and somebody that liked helping people."

In fact, Ms Binns visited this newspaper two weeks of with a friend who had allegedly been punched by her boyfriend. She had gone with the friend to report the assault to Police and complained that a sergeant did not take the incident seriously enough. Ms Francis said that was typical of her caring nature. "Everybody is pretty much distraught and taken aback," she added. "Most people are in shock."

Ms Binns, who celebrated her 26th birthday just two weeks ago with a dinner at the Black Horse in St. David's, has a listing on social networking internet site MySpace.

She dubbed her page "Sleepytime" and wrote of her late brother: "It's almost been a year since u been gone and still no justice". She last logged in on Monday — the day before her body was found — when she described her mood as "optimistic".